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ROMAN CHRISTIANITY IN LATIN AMERICA 





ROMAN CHRISTIANITY IN 
LATIN AMERICA 


| By 
WEBSTER E. BROWNING, PH.D., LITT.D. 


Educational Secretary of the Committee on 
Cooperation in Latin America 


New Yor«k CHICAGO 


Fleming H. Revell Company 


LONDON AND EDINBURGH 


Copyright, 1924, by 
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 


Printed in the United States of America 


New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
Chicago: 17 North Wabash Ave. 
London: 21 Paternoster Square 
‘Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street 


The Committee of Reference and Counsel of the 
Foreign Missions Conference of North America has 
authorised the publication of this series. The author 
of each volume is alone responsible for the opinions 
expressed, unless otherwise stated, 





Preface 


Conference of the United States and Canada, 
through its Committee on Missionary Prepara- 
tion of the Committee of Reference and Counsel, has been 
encouraging the publication of a group of volumes on the 
Living Religions of the World. It was the purpose to 
secure a vivid and concrete, yet thoroughly trustworthy, 
impression of the actual religious values in the every day 
life of the world’s active religions in the regions where 
each predominates. Each of these volumes was intended 
to be impressionistic, rather than didactic. It was to give 
an accurate picture, duly explained, of the ways in which 
_one of these large groups of men and women expresses its 
religious longings and a fair estimate of its inner and 
outer response to the appeal of its religion, rather than to 
set forth a technical exposition of each religion as a body 
of teaching or practise. The volumes are thus intro- 
ductory in character. The interested reader is shown 
how to pursue the subject further. 

No scheme covering the living religions of the world 
can avoid the inclusion of that form of Roman Christian- 
ity which prevails among the great masses of people in 
Latin America,—a Romanism so blended with primitive 
superstition and so lacking in the influences which have 
developed the progressive Catholicism of North America 
and Europe out of the medievalism of old Spain and Italy 
and Portugal. Its own wiser officials would freely admit 
that it has never had the forces at its command either in 
numbers or quality to supply all the real religious needs 
of the Latin-American peoples. Evangelical Christians, 
therefore, both in North America and in Europe, have not 


7 


L_) conte the last few years the Foreign Missions 


8 Preface 


hesitated to establish missions of their own to aid in meet- 
ing the obvious needs of a land and people, superficially 
religious in the centers of population, but frankly non- 
religious as regards the bulk of its inhabitants. _ 

The writer of this volume before going to South Amer- 
ica served as an instructor in Princeton University, of 
which he is a graduate. He has spent twenty-seven years 
in South America as a representative of the Presbyterian 
Board of Foreign Missions. For almost twenty of these 
years he served as the Principal of the “ Instituto Ingles ” 
at Santiago, Chile. His graduates are men of leadership 
and influence and are to be found in the national Congress 
and in other positions of importance. For the past seven 
years, Dr. Browning has been the educational secretary of 
the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America, which 
represents practically all the Boards working in that great 
field. He has travelled repeatedly in most of the Latin 
American republics, meeting all classes——working men, 
business men, educators and political and religious lead- 
ers. His standing among the educators of South America 
is attested by the fact that he has been one of the very few 
North Americans to receive the coveted degree of Litt.D. | 
from the oldest institution of higher learning in the West- 
ern Hemisphere, the ancient University of San Marcos, 
in Peru. 

Dr. Browning has seen Roman Catholicism in Latin: 
America in actual operation in all its phases. While he is 
constrained to recognise the religious shortcomings of 
Latin America and to voice some criticisms, his attitude is 
truly irenic. A Latin friend of his described him as a 
man “with an Anglo-Saxon mind and a Latin heart.” 
He has been a welcome guest and speaker at nearly every 
great university in Latin America and at gatherings of 
educated men. He is peculiarly competent to evaluate the 
real religious life that prevails in the twenty Latin repub- 
lics that are our neighbours to the South. 

It may seem to the reader as he proceeds that the vol- 


Preface 9 


ume is a story of social, rather than religious conditions. 
He must remember that the one is essential to reveal the 
true character of the other. A Romanism whose influence 
was conducive to social betterment, intellectual awakening 
and spiritual growth would call for no comment. It 
would be what Christendom has a right to expect. That 
the real state of affairs is otherwise is abundantly indi- 
cated herein. 

Such a study as this aims to be seems timely. After 
half a century of missionary activity, Evangelical Chris- 
tianity is now firmly established in Latin America. Dur- 
ing the same time Roman Christianity has also made real 
advances. While the two are likely always to go their 
separate ways, they may, as in North America, be mutu- 
ally helpful and reach a common understanding. That 
this volume may assist the process by drawing a true por- 
trait of existing religious conditions and by suggesting 
ways of meeting’ them is our sincere desire. 

THE Eprrors. 


New York City, 
June, 1924. 





Contents 


I, Typrca, SuNDAY SCENES 


- 


Women Wending Their Way to Early 
Mass 


2. The Labouring Man and the Cockpit 


3. 


The Races or the Bull Ring 


4. The Cafés and Clubs . 


y 


The Reaction During the Week 


II. Tue Present A LEGACY FROM THE PAst . 


i: 


bdo 


6. 


The Character of the Priesthood During 
the Conquest 


. This Character But Little Changed Daring 


the Succeeding Centuries 


. The Holy Inquisition in America . 
. The Character of the Priesthood Improves 


as Nationals Enter It 


. The Present Situation Largely a Resislt of 


the Lack of Friendly Emulation 
The Present a Stage in an Evolution 
Toward Higher Standards . 


III. Tue Existinc S1tTuaTion 


if 


In Education. . 

(a) The Upper Shcial Classes F A voned 

(b) The Education Provided Coliural 
Rather Than Practical : 

(c) The Attitude of Professors Toward 
Religion... 

{d) The Attitude of Students Woward 
Religion. . 

(e) A Reaction Against This Moral in: 
difference nk AA 


11 


12 


Contents 
(f) The Influence of the Roman Church . 


. In Political and Economic Conditions . 


(a) The Rule of the Oligarchs 

(b) Patron and Peon 

(c) Industrial Unrest t 

(d) Growing Pains Incident to Atty Social 
Struggle to Break with the Past . 


3. In the Social Code 


(a) It Protects Men But Not Weiner: 
(b) Advances Made by Feminist Forces . 


4. In the Religious Life . 


(a) The Women Are Generally Faithful 
to Their Church . : 

(b) The Alienation of the Men pad 

(c) Mary, Not Her Son, Is the Center of 
Worship : 

(d) The Bible Lacking 

(e) A Sense of the Responsibility of Stew: 
ardship Is Lacking 

(f£) Intellectual Assent, Not Conversiags 
Demanded by the Church. 

(g) Romanism Is a Philosophy As Well 
As a Religion ; 

(h) The Evangel of Rome Is Sacerdoed 
and Symbolic 

(1) Rome Is Not Missionary ; Witness the 
Pagan Indians . 

(j) The Spirit of the Inquisition Is Still 
SEOMO Tlie sa 

(k) Rome Does Not Understatid the Mo- 
tive of Evangelical Christianity 

(1) Roman Christianity in Latin America 
a Peculiar Type . 


IV. Tue AppkAL oF ROME 


1. The Church Makes a Strong Appeal to the 


Senses . 


2. It Appeals to Pride and Social Ambition . 


33 
34 
34 
35 
36 
36 
37 
37 
39 
AQ 


40 
40 


42 
43 


Ag: 
47 
43 


49 


49 


Ban 
54 


55 
58 


59 
61 


Contents 


3. It Appeals to Fear 

4. It Appeals to Those Who Find the Right 
of Private Judgment Too Burdensome 

5. It Appeals to the Same Love of Archi- 
tectural Grandeur and Ceremonial Splen- 
dour As the Old Primitive Religions of 
the Continent . 

6. It Appeals With the Appeal to Be Found 
in the Great Body of Christian Truth to 
Which the Church at Large Clings . 

7. It Appeals on the Ground of Its sagem 
and Supposed Unity 


V. THE APPROACH OF PROTESTANTISM 


VI. 


1. The Evangelical Message Must Recognise 
the Good in Roman Christianity . 
2. It Must Seek to Christianise, Not to Beate 
estantise . ° 
. It Must Be Irenic Rather Than Polemic 
The Message Must Be Free from Politics . 
It Must Emphasise the Social Gospel . 
The Messenger’s Life Can Be Made to 
Count for More Than His Message. . 
. The Messenger Must Be of High Culture . 
. It Must Include the Whole Population 
HE OPPORTUNITY PsyCHOLOGICAL 
. Politically Considered. . 
(a) Because of the Attitude of dis United 
States in the World War. i 
(b) Our Political Supremacy Begets 
Moral and Spiritual Responsibility 
2. Morally Considered p 
(a) Confidence in Evangelicals Shown by 
the Governing Class. . 
(b) The Mission School Crowded to Its 
Utmost Capacity . ‘ 
(c) The Changed Lives of Converts 


mHHoN Ana 


VII. Resuuts THat May Bs Exprctep 


13 
62 


14 


Contents 


1, The Building Up of An AiR Com- 
munity . . 

2. A Changed Social Cotiscience 

3. A Deeper Mutual Appreciation Between 
Romanists and Evangelicals . . 

4, An Awakening on the Part of the Indiffer- 
ent and Hostile . : 

5. Increased Confidence and Support at the 
Home Base iM Mey taal” 

BIBLIOGRAPHY, i pit iene ynaa a ie teria 


I 
TYPICAL SUNDAY SCENES 


LATIN AMERICA is classified as a Christian country. 
The traveller who makes, as so many do, the circuit of 
its maritime republics, need never be far away from the 
sound of church bells. The people rate themselves as 
nominally Roman Catholics. Great masses of the un- 
educated population are as pagan in their modes of life as » 
were their ancestors who served the Incas, and a large 
proportion of the educated are avowedly atheistic and 
hostile to the Church. ‘To understand the current re- 
ligious life of the republics under study requires a careful 
appraisal of the many elements which have fashioned it. 
So widely do these vary from those which have shaped 
the religious development of North American peoples, 
whether Romanists or Protestants, or of those in Europe, 
that Roman Christianity in Latin America even differs 
considerably from the Romanism of those other parts of 
the world. A clearer knowledge of it may be gained from 
a consideration of its outward manifestations. 


1. Women Wending The Way to Early Mass. 


A stranger spending a Sunday in the average Latin 
American city or large town, especially in the countries 
that lie in the tropics or border on them, who takes a 
stroll early abroad in the streets, would see large numbers 
of well-dressed women wending their way along the prin- 
cipal streets and avenues, evidently imbued with a com- 
mon purpose and on their way to a common goal. 

In some capital cities, as in Santiago de Chile, every 
woman would be dressed in black, the head and upper 


15 


16 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


part of the body covered with a light clinging garment, 
gracefully draped about the face and alluringly fastened 
under the chin, and falling in loose and flowing folds 
- below the waist of the wearer. ‘This article of dress is 
the manto. Inasmuch as hats are forbidden in a Roman 
Catholic church in Chile, and yet, in a strictly literal in- 
terpretation of Scripture it is decreed that the head of a 
woman must be covered, the manto is worn by women of 
all social classes when attending mass. These long lines 
of black-robed figures are women, generally of the upper 
social strata, who have left their homes at an early hour 
for the purpose of complying with their religious obliga- 
tions. When the mass is over they return in the same 
manner to their homes, quietly, with all decorum, as befits 
the spirit of the day and hour. 

In some cities, as in Lima, Peru, the graceful mantilla, 
more distinctly Spanish in type, which covers only the 
head, is used; while in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, 
where the church finds it is less able to dictate the dress 
that its women may wear, the most modern fashions 
prevail. Ladies may be seen entering the sacred precincts 
wearing the latest hats from Paris and London. 

But, in any case, the observant traveller will note that 
with rare exceptions it is only the feminine portion of the 
population that is thus early astir and intent on the fulfill- 
ment of religious duties. He will see very few men. He 
might even carry away the impression, should he leave the © 
city before midday, that the country had been visited by 
a particularly disastrous civil war which had carried off 
large numbers of the males, the women seem so to out- 
number the men. 


2. The Labouring Man and the Cockpit. 

A little later in the afternoon, however, the male popu- 
lation makes its appearance, beginning with those who 
may be said to constitute the labouring classes. 

In American countries which lie within the tropics, in 


Typical Sunday Scenes git: 


the tierra caliente of the low-lands, cock-fighting is a 
favourite diversion of the men of the working classes. 
Cocks of fighting pedigree are carefully trained for the 
ring. Nature and careful breeding by man have pro- 
vided this particular strain of cocks with unusually long, 
sharp spurs. In addition, their respective owners procure 
carefully fashioned, curved, razor-like knives and fasten 
them to the leg of the bird to increase its ability to maim 
an adversary when they meet in the pit. Thus equipped, 
the cocks are brought to the rendezvous, each carefully 
carried in the hollow of the arm of its owner or trainer. 
No contest for the heavyweight boxing championship: of 
the world further North arouses a more intense interest 
among the spectators than characterises those who eagerly 
follow each thrust and retreat of these bleeding champions 
of the cock-pit. 

Sunday, always a holiday, is the day most generally 
chosen for these exhibitions. The entire day will often 
pass before an excited crowd breaks up, unless, as some- 
times happens, the supply of birds becomes exhausted 
because so many have been killed. 


3. The Races or the Bull-ring. 


In the afternoon of Sunday there are also diversions of 
a more public character, in which members of all the 
social classes may share. In some countries, as Chile, the 
bull-fight has never become popular, and is forbidden by 
the authorities. But in others, as Peru, which was the 
seat of the viceroy during the time that Spain held her 
colonies in the New World, and where Spanish customs 
still largely prevail, it is as much a national sport as base- 
ball in the United States or cricket in England. Bulls of 
a peculiarly fierce disposition are imported from the 
breeders in Spain, or are raised in the country itself, so 
that the spectacle loses none of its demoralising aspects 
through having been transplanted to the New World. 

The highest officials of the state countenance the spec- 


18 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


tacle by their presence. Even children of tender age are 
taken by their parents who think thus to encourage and 
foster manliness. The matador is enthusiastically cheered 
by the women who are present, as well as by their male 
escorts. After it is all over, he walks the streets with the 
haughty mien of a conqueror, acknowledging the flowers 
showered upon him by the hands of fair women, and re- 
ceiving the plaudits of the populace, much as a Cesar 
celebrated his triumphs in the Eternal City in the days of 
Rome’s greatest power. 

In other capitals, horse racing, which is generally pro- 
hibited by law on working days, attracts many thousands. 
Special facilities for betting are provided and a surprising 
amount of money changes hands. The graduated scale of 
prices gives opportunity for all to attend, from the Presi- 
dent of the Republic to the most humble workingman. 
These race courses, like the lotteries, pay a certain per- 
centage of their gains to the municipality for the support 
of hospitals and other institutions of charity. This en- 
ables many persons, especially foreigners, to offer a sop 
to conscience when they bet on the outcome of a race or 
buy a ticket in the weekly drawing of the lottery. 


4. The Cafés and Clubs. 


When the entertainment of the afternoon is over, the 
ladies return home, or make their round of social calls. 
The men congregate in the cafés and clubs and may not 
return to their homes until a very late hour of the night. 
During the summer months or in the cities of the tropics, 
thousands of men sit about small tables that are arranged, © 
as in Paris and other European cities, on the sidewalks in 
front of the cafés. There they drink coffee and discuss 
the events of the day or politics. Asa rule, only coffee or 
tea or “soft drinks ” will be taken by these small groups 
of individuals. In the clubs frequented by men of wealth 
and leisure, drinks of a more fiery character may be freely 
ordered; yet one seldom sees a gentleman of the upper 


Typical Sunday Scenes 19 


classes under the influence of liquor. The drinking is 
generally confined to light wines; the brandies and whis- 
kies which made the American saloon infamous are in less 
demand. Men in the humbler walks of life, however, 
often congregate in drinking places where indulgence in 
the fiery native drinks is a prolific cause of quarrels and 
bloodshed. Many become so incapacitated through in- 
toxication that they cannot do their day’s work on Mon- 
day, or for even a longer time, and yet this drunken 
Sunday orgy is repeated by them week after week. 


5. The Reactton During the Week. 


Many women attend mass during the week, some of 
them with unfailing regularity. Roman Catholic churches 
are always open, so that those who desire may enter and 
remain as long as they wish, in meditation or prayer. 

Although comparatively few men attend the services of 
the church at any time, yet among this minority one may 
find some of the most cultured gentlemen of Latin Amer- 
ica. ‘These men are not ashamed to confess their loyalty 
to their church and’are faithful in their compliances with 
all its ordinances and obligations. Attendance on church 
services and the fulfillment of its prescribed ordinances, 
however, are unfortunately too often altogether unrelated 
with life. It seems difficult for them to make a vital con- 
nection between the performance of stated ritualistic duties 
and the problems of every day life in a world of tempta- 
tion and constant stress. From the satisfactory conclusion 
of the one, no inspiration is carried over into the tasks of 
the other. Hence it is easy for them to content themselves 
with attendance on the stated church services as a fulfill- 
ment of all their Christian obligations, and then each goes 
his own way in his daily life. This tendency is not limited 
to members of the Roman Communion; Evangelicals have 
their full share of such adherents. Yet religion in Latin 
America has such a pronounced tendency toward formal- 
ism that it impresses the onlooker as characteristic. 


II 
THE PRESENT A LEGACY FROM THE PAST 


TO UNDERSTAND more fully present conditions in Latin 
America, in both church and state, one must hark back 
four hundred years to the time of the conquest of these 
lands by Spain, and note the kind of men who stamped 
their character and their habits upon these peoples. 

No one will deny that the early part of the sixteenth 
century marked a period of very high culture in Spain. 
The universities of Salamanca and Alcala were then at the 
height of their power and their fame had gone throughout 
all the countries of Europe. But before the end of this 
century the Inquisition, which was organised to restore 
Catholicism, and became one of the principal instruments 
of the Counter-reformation, had so weakened and impov- 
erished the fundamental human instincts of the Spanish 
people as to change them into “sombre fanatics, sunk in 
ignorance and superstition, and retaining hardly a trace of 
their former buoyance and healthy independence.” + 

Militant forms of religion had long been prevalent in 
the life of Europe and particularly in that of Spain. The 
very year that witnessed the conquest of Granada and the 
discovery of America, saw, also, the expulsion of 100,000 
Jews from the peninsula and the forced conversion of 
many thousands of others. A few years later the Moors 
also fell under condemnation and were forced to accept 
Christianity or emigrate from the Spanish dominions. 
Spain thus came to be looked upon as the favourite 
daughter of the Papacy, divinely called to carry out the 
policy of the Pope in all the world. 


1 See Inge, Christian Mysticism. 
20 


The Present a Legacy from the Past 21 


Very naturally, this same spirit of cruel persecution 
projected itself into the colonies. Every effort was made 
to exclude those who were not thoroughly proved Roman 
Catholics. Adventure and an insatiable appetite for gold 
were powerful motives in this colonisation; but the ear- 
nest desire to extend his peculiar religious program to the 
new world was equally dear to the heart of every subject 
of the Catholic kings of Spain. 

Therefore, when Christopher Columbus, the discoverer 
of the Western Hemisphere; Hernando Cortés, the con- 
queror of Montezuma; and Francisco Pizarro, the de- 
spoiler and assassin of Atahualpa, set out to follow the 
trail of the setting sun across a troubled sea, in order to 
set up the standards of the Catholic kings of Spain on 
these far off and unknown shores, the Church came with 
them. They flung to the breeze, not only the colours of 
Castilla and Aragon, but also those of the supreme head of 
the church in their day. The caravels that carried Colum- 
bus and his little group toward the Western World bore 
upon their sails the Christian cross, and this example was 
imitated by the conquistadores who came after him. The 
principal standard of Cortés was of black velvet, embroid- 
ered with gold, emblazoned with a red cross amidst flames 
of blue and white, with this motto in Latin,— Friends, 
let us follow the cross, and under this sign, 1f we have 
faith, we shall conquer.” ‘The sacred emblem was worn 
even on the arms of those who bore in their hearts little 
pity for the peoples whom they brought under subjection. 
The sword and the crucifix were emblems of a new and 
terrible power which neither Aztec nor Inca could under- 
“stand or successfully resist. 


1. The Character of the Priesthood During the Conquest. 

The first representatives of the clergy were, for the 
most part, Franciscan or Dominican monks; later these 
were largely superseded by the Jesuits. Those who came 
during the rule of Spain had been trained in the harsh 


22 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


school of the time, in the methods of the Duke of Alba 
and Cardinal Cisneros, and they gave short shrift to all 
persons who dared differ from them in matters of dogma. 

Moreover, since their work was carried on so far from 
Rome or Spain, and under conditions that interfered 
sorely with a very strict observance of their vows, it was 
not strange that many of them succumbed to the pleas- 
ures of the flesh. But these priests were always faithful 
churchmen, sustained by an unswerving belief in the 
righteousness of their cause. They looked on themselves 
as crusaders, engaged in a holy warfare, sent forth to 
take possession of an unknown world that its inhabit- 
ants might come under the sway of the leader of the 
Christian faith. 7 

It is true that in the first, and possibly even in the sec- 
ond, generation there were a number of the clergy promi- 
nent for their high culture who looked with sympathy 
upon the Indian population. This is the explanation of 
the fact that during the first fifty years after the discovery 
and conquest, a great number of schools, colleges and uni- 
versities were founded, in which instruction was given to 
both Indians and whites. Printing presses were also es- — 
tablished in which a great many tracts were printed in 
the dialects of the Indians for distribution among these 
unfortunates. 

In this connection, three names stand out with peculiar 
brilliance: Bartolomé de las Casas, a member of the Do- 
minican order, who is remembered in the pages of history 
because of his resolute defense of the red races against the 
tyranny of the whites; Buenaventura Boil, .better known 
under the name of “ Montilinea, the friend of the In- 
dians ”; and Zumarraga, the first archbishop of Mexico. 


2. This Character but Little Changed During the Suc- 
ceeding Centuries. 


Unfortunately, the centuries immediately succeeding 
the Conquest saw but little improvement in the general 


The Present a Legacy from the Past 23 


character of the priesthood. Recruits were, for the 
most part, brought from the monasteries of Spain and 
Portugal, where obscurantism reigned supreme. Few 
of those who came to the colonies of the New World 
found their interests reaching beyond the enrichment 
of their own orders and the gratification of their own 
desires and passions, All interest in standing up for the 
rights of the aborigines disappeared and the native was 
looked upon as a mere helot, a hewer of wood and a 
drawer of water, with no more claim to consideration 
than the dumb animals with which he was compelled 
to live. 

This spirit of intolerance predominating among the 
clergy, was in complete accord with the attitude of the 
times. It was not strange, therefore, that a branch of 
the Holy Inquisition should be set up in the Western 
World in order to hold more strictly to the faith the 
peoples who lived in the territories there over which Spain 
ruled. This was accomplished in 1569. In the following 
year, the first Grand Inquisitor to tread the free soil of 
America made his triumphal entry into Lima. 


3. The Holy Inquisition in America. 


In Lima alone, before the Inquisition was finally 
abolished in 1813, some sixty men and women had been 
burned alive, and an almost incredible number had suf- 
fered pains and tortures scarcely less horrible. Similar 
scenes had been enacted in other centers, as in the walled 
city of Cartagena. There is no exact record of the total 
number of those who suffered death and torture before 
the Holy Office was abolished. In Europe with the con- 
clusion of its work there came, also, a reaction against its 
principles, largely due to Protestant influence in nearby 
countries. Not so in Latin America, which has remained 
the peculiar and exclusive territory of the church of 
Rome, so that, even until the present time, the inquisi- 
tional spirit is strong among the hierarchy. Especially is 


24 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


this so in some of the more backward countries along the 
Spanish Main, in Central America and on the West Coast 
of South America. . 

Unaffected by the passing years, Romanism in these 
lands has remained the depository of the traditions and 
superstitions, the hatred and the intolerance of medizval 
Christianity. There are not lacking among its partisans 
those who would gladly return to the bloody methods of 
the Middle Ages and prevent by rack and flame the en- 
trance and spread of ideas and teaching that do not com- 
pletely harmonise with their own. A fellow traveller, a 
priest of Rome, once said to the writer, on a steamer on 
one of the rivers in the far interior of South America,— 
“If I had my way, you would never reach your destina- 
tion, and all those whom you are going to visit would be 
quickly disposed of.” 

It is true that not all Latin-American priests show this 
spirit of intolerance, but those who. do are numerous 
enough to wield a decided influence. Latin-American 
peoples have thereby had their spiritual life narrowed in a 
way which will persist until they have found out how to 
rid themselves of this intolerance. 

Intolerance and persecution it must be kept in mind, as 
manifested in Latin America, are Spanish in their essence, 
rather than indigenous to the soil. The typical native, 
both the creole and the Indian, is a kindly individual. 


4. The Character of the Priesthood Improves as Na- 
tionals Enter It. 


Fortunately in these later years, as the countries of 
Latin America are being brought into closer contact 
with other and more progressive nations, a liberal spirit 
on matters of religion has been strengthened; foreign 
priests no longer find the warm welcome that was 
formerly given them. In some countries, as Ecuador 
and Mexico, the Government has forbidden the entrance 
of any ecclesiastic not a native of the country. Fre- 


The Present a Legacy from the Past 25 


quently in such countries the foreign priest has now 
become an object of suspicion, even among many of those 
of his own faith. 

Consequently, more and more recruits for the work ot 
the priesthood consist of young Latin Americans who are 
republican in politics and more liberal in religious matters, 
and whose education necessarily is to some degree in- 
fluenced by their surroundings. Some of these young 
clergymen visit the United States, a few of them to earn a 
higher degree in one of our universities: ‘There they 
mingle with North American students and, by the very 
force of the circumstances in which they find themselves, 
are liberalised in their thinking and acquire a more gener- 
ous attitude toward those who belong to other commun- 
ions. When such men return to their own countries to 
exercise their priestly functions, they are likely to in- 
fluence their fellow priests, and their Church in general, 
in favour of modern thinking and acting. 


5. The Present Situation ts Largely a Result of a Lack of 

Friendly Emulation. 

All faithful Roman Catholics denounce the great 
variety of sects among Protestants as an evidence of 
weakness and lack of definiteness in Christian faith and 
practice. But only those who are most fanatical would 
claim that their monopoly of the field in the absence of a 
friendly rivalry in religious teaching in Latin America 
has been an unmixed blessing. For practically four 
centuries, Roman Christianity has worked by itself in all 
this great area, and the results in the formation of Chris- 
tian character can not cheer even the most optimistic. 
One of their own priests has said :— 


\ “T do not think that the Church, in any case, reaches more 
than ten percent. of the people, and in many cases this is say- 
\ing too much. The Church has a hold, but the grip is that of 
a dead hand, only the people do not yet realise that the hand 
is dead. But there is no life in the grip and it only needs a 


26 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


vigorous effort on the part of the missionaries massed in 
number at some strategic point, to loosen the grip. I can not 
say too often that the Church here is dead, and none know it 
better than the priests themselves.”? — 


Yet, we dare not be too critical in considering this and 
similar statements, as well as the patent facts in the case. 
Possibly any one of the great evangelical bodies, if left 
for such a length of time in full control of this great 
extent of territory, with an overwhelming population of 
ignorant and pagan tribes of Indians, without any of the 
kindly yet keen emulation which has kept all the various 
units of the Christian community in the United States up 
to the mark, might have failed to maintain its high stand- 
ards of spirituality or even have deteriorated in the en- 
forcement of commonly recognised codes of morality. 

Not only must the spirit of the times be kept in mind in 
explaining the failure of Latin America to attain to a pure 
form of active Christianity, but also, the isolation of that 
whole continent from the great currents of religious re- 
form that swept over Europe and eventually, carried to the 
far off shores of North America, Roman Catholic repre- 
sentatives of a totally different interpretation of the Chris- - 
tian message. E'ven the Catholic revival, a reaction which 
took place early in the nineteenth century, scarcely af- 
fected the Roman Church in Latin America, At best it 
may be said that, in its spirit and organisation, Roman 
Catholicism in Latin America is still practically what it 
was in Spain and Portugal in the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries, except as it has been brought into contact 
with the Evangelical movement. 


6. The Present a Stage in an Evolution Toward Higher 
Standards. 


As has happened in other parts of the world, the extent 
to which the work of the Evangelical missions is making 


1 Quoted by R. E. Speer, in South American Problems, p. 189. . 


The Present a Legacy from the Past 27 


its way into public favour is reacting to the improvement 
of the methods employed by Roman Catholics. It may be 
said, therefore, that the present marks a transition stage 
in the development of Roman Catholicism in Latin Amer- 
ica, and that its evolution is toward the standards recog- 
nised and the methods employed by it in such European 
countries as France, Bavaria, and Rhenish Prussia, where 
it holds a high place in the world of thought and conduct. 

Since the coming of Evangelical missionaries, and 
largely due to their influence, many advances in religious 
and civic freedom have taken place. When the Rev. 
David Trumbull, the first Evangelical missionary to Chile, 
disembarked in 1845, he found that there was no liberty of 
worship accorded by the constitution of the republic, no 
civil marriage and no civil cemetery. The only worship 
permitted was that of the official Church, the only legal 
marriage ceremony was that which was performed by one 
of its priests, and only those who confessed communion in 
that Church could be buried in consecrated ground. He 
soon began to plan for the reform of these laws and give 
himself to the work ‘of creating public sympathy for the 
proposed legislation. Before his death, he had the satis- 
faction of seeing the cemeteries open to the dead of any 
faith, or of none, of knowing that the civil marriage cere- 
mony had taken precedence over that of the official 
Church; and that threugh a liberal interpretation of the 
constitution, what was practically liberty of worship and 
conscience had been secured. 

Largely as a result of the liberalising influence of the 
Evangelical missions there are now but few places in 
Latin America in which the missionary cannot give his 
message with the utmost freedom and with no fear of 
serious persecution. Liberty of worship has been secured 
in all countries, if not by constitutional changes at least 
through the protection afforded the missionary by the 
representatives of liberal governments. In a number of 
republics, as in Uruguay, the Roman Church has been 


28 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


completely disestablished. Civil marriage laws now make 
possible the celebration of this rite without the interven- 
tion of a priest; civil cemeteries are open to the dead of 
all faiths, or those of none, and a better understanding is 
in course of formation between Roman Catholics and 
Evangelicals. 

There is reason to believe that the majority of the in- 
telligent Roman Catholic citizens, while still remaining 
loyal to their religion and the authorities of their Church, 
would oppose any suggestion of a return to the narrow 
and oppressive legislation of past years which gave the 
priests almost supreme power, not only in matters of 
religion, but also in the civil and social life of the people. 
Having experienced the advantages of religious toleration 
and witnessed its beneficent influence in private and public 
life, few have any desire to return to the arid past. 


Il 
THE EXISTING SITUATION 


ALTHOUGH marked changes have taken place in the atti- 
tude of Roman Christianity in Latin America toward the 
problems with which it is particularly concerned, and 
while the curve in the line of these changes has, on the 
whole, been upward, the present situation is still very con- 
siderably affected by past conditions. This evil inherit- 
ance is particularly noted in the educational systems and 
methods of the majority of Latin-American countries, in 
the economic conditions that prevail, and in the religious 
life and practices of the people. 


1. In Education. | 
(a) The Upper Social Classes Are Favoured.—In 


every Latin-American republic a certain small section of 
the population, mainly found in the Capital, is as highly 
cultured as any similar group in any other city or country 
of the world. Legislation is always in the control of 
representatives of this group, and it would be contrary to 
all experience in other lands to expect them to enact laws 
unfavourable to their own interests. 

Public instruction, for example, is, in theory, both free 
and compulsory in most of the republics. In practice, 
only a minority of the population is literate. The propor- 
tion of illiterates runs as high as 90% in Colombia, Vene- 
zuela and some of the Central American republics, for % 
instance, and drops only to 38.8 in the most advanced. In 
spite of this unfavourable showing, as compared with 
other countries, but little interest is manifested by the 
upper classes in bettering it. Now and then a legislator 
or a writer declaims against this condition of affairs with- 


29 


30 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


out result. One such writer, a Brazilian, has recently 
exclaimed : 


“ The great mass of our people present the saddest state ot 
illiteracy. It is not erroneous to calculate that more than 
80% of our fellow citizens are not able even to read or write. 
This percentage is so excessive, so deplorable, placing us in 
a position so greatly inferior to other cultured nations of 
America and the world, that one of our distinguished men 
has recently proposed to change our name from Brazil to 
Analphabetlandia,—the land of illiterates.” 


In most of the cities reasonable provision is made for 
the instruction of the children of school age, but in the 
country districts, the home of the bulk of the humbler 
classes, school privileges are woefully lacking. Even in 
the cities, the child of the working man must begin to earn 
his living so early that the parents, themselves illiterates, 
will not submit to the sacrifices necessary to keep them in 
school. The wealthy classes are able to keep their chil- 
dren in school as long as they may wish, for, if govern- 
ment schools are lacking or are unsatisfactory, they may 
place them in private institutions or provide instruction 
in the home. | 

(b) The Education Provided is Cultural Rather Than 
Practical,—Generally, the methods established by the 
teaching monks during the rule of Spain and Portugal 
have prevailed until the present time. In: consequence, 
and in consonance with the Latin temperament, profes- 
sional training very largely predominates over that which 
is practical. The republics to the far South, especially 
Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, have broken with tradi- . 
tion and adopted modern courses of study and methods of 
instruction; but in those farther North, the influence of 
past centuries lingers on in ways difficult to overcome. 
One of the professors in the University of San Marcos, in 
Lima, Peru, is quoted as having said: 


“We still maintain the same ornamental and literary edu- 
cation which the Spanish Government implanted in South 


The Existing Situation 31 


America for political purposes, instead of introducing intel- 
lectual training capable of advancing material well-being. It 
gives brilliancy to cultured minds, but does not produce prac- 
tical intelligence. It can amuse the leisure hours of the rich, 
but does not teach the poor how to work. We are a people 
posssesed of the same mania for speaking and writing as old 
and decadent nations. We look with horror upon active pro- 
fessions which demand energy and the spirit of struggle. 
Few of us are willing to endure the hardships of mining, or 
incur the risks and cares of commerce and trade. Instead, 
we like tranquillity and security, the semi-repose of public 
office, and the literary professions on which the public opin- 
ion of our society puts a premium. Fathers of families like 
to see their sons lawyers, doctors, office-holders, literati and 
professors. Peru, like China, is the promised land of literati 
and functionaries.” (Report of U. S. Commissioner of Edu- 
cation, 1908. Ch. V.) 


(c) The Attitude of Professors Toward Religion.—In 
open and pardonable revolt against the only type of Chris- 
_tianity known to them, many of these men have swung to 
the other extreme of agnosticism, Positivism or atheism, 
and boldly endeavour to carry their students with them in 
their thinking. It is not unusual to hear the declaration 
that God is a myth and religion a man-made affair.” A 
professor in one of the law schools of Brazil is quoted as 
BAe said to his students: 


f The Catholic faith is dead. There is no longer confi- 
dence in Christian dogma. The supernatural has been 
banished from the domain of science. ‘The conquests of 
philosophy have done away with the old preconceptions of 
spirituality. Astronomy with La Place has invaded the 
heavenly fields, and in all celestial space there has not been 
found a Kingdom for your God?) We are in the realm of 
realism. ‘The reason meditates a on theological principles, 
but upon facts furnished by experience. God is a myth. He 
has no reality. He is not an object of science. Men in- 
vented gods and God that the world might be ruled. 

The simple spirit refrains from all criticisms and accepts the 
idea of God without resistance. The cultured spirit repels 
the idea in virtue of its inherent contradictions,” + 


1 Quoted by R. E. Speer, in South American Problems, pp. 93-94. 


52 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


(d) The Attitude of Students Toward Religion 2Stu- 
dents generally are apt to accept the teaching of their in- 
structors on matters of faith with little or no independent 
investigation on their own part; hence it follows that a 
very large majority of those who are in the secondary 
schools and universities of Latin America have no interest 
in religion. > 

One of the most experienced Secretaries of the Young 
Men’s Christian Association in South America, who 
knows thoroughly the student situation, has said, refer- 
ring to one of the largest universities in Latin America: 


“The National University of Buenos Aires has a student 
body of over four thousand young men of the influential 
classes of the Argentine Republic. .°. . As regards reli- 
gion, I would say that not over ten percent. of them are more 
than nominally identified with Roman Catholicism, which is 
the State religion. Another ten percent. take a hostile atti- 
tude towards the Roman Church. } The hostility does not 
mean, however, that there is any sympathy with Protestant- 
ism in the best sense of the word. They are in sympathy 
with a Protestantism that protests, but they have no contact 
with Evangelical Christianity. Christianity and Romanism, 
indeed, mean to them one and the same thing. The great 
mass of students are indifferent, never having given any 
thought to religious questions. They believe in nothing.” * 


‘The enrollment of the University mentioned has dou- 
bled since these lines were written, but the percentages 
suggested would probably still hold good. Any change 
would not be in favour of any form of religion, and the 
same may be said of practically all of the great universi- 
ties and the various technical schools of Latin America. 

In a recent visit to the University of Cuzco, Peru, the 
writer was told by one of the students that, as a rough 
estimate, it could be stated one percent of the student 
body should be classed as actively Catholic; one percent 
actively Protestant; eight percent favourable to Catholi- 
cism; twenty percent favourable to Protestantism; and 


1C, J. Ewald, The Student World, January, 1909, 


The Existing Situation 33 


seventy percent as entirely indifferent to all forms of 
religious thought. 

(e) A Reaction Against This Moral Indifference—In 
the face of this great indifference to religion, or the un- 
veiled opposition to the official church, there are not lack- 
ing those, among both professors and students, who regret 
the present situation and hunger for a change. )Students 
in particular, are beginning to realise that their prepara- 
tion for their life work is not complete, unless they obtain 
an outfit of moral convictions, and they are asking for in- 
struction along ethical lines.), One of them recently voiced 
his own sense of this lack, in what we would call his Com- 
mencement oration, and he represents a growing class in 
the universities. In words full of sadness and regret, he 
spoke out his feeling of loneliness and moral isolation in 
this address, in which he said: 


“There is a universal profession,—that of being a man. 
To be a man is the final end of every human creature. To 
form men is the primary function of the university. And 
yet, now admitted to our professions, we say farewell to the 
scene of our labours in the class-room with the bitterness of 
spirit which comes from being obliged to acknowledge that 
we have received no such instruction. /Masters of a world 
of ideas, we are still wandering in search of a moral ideal. 
In our march toward the Unknown, will our gross natural 
instincts be a sure guide? Although we are destined to reap 
an abundant harvest of good or evil from our contact with 
others, our teachers have failed to point out to us the ethical 
end of our personality. Thought is a force, a force that 
builds up or tears down. In order that ideas may have a 
constructive social value, it is necessary that they have a 
healthy and solid orientation. For this reason, I believe, if 
the university will but place virtue on an equality with 
science, it will have made its most splendid contribution to 
man as he sets out on the rough highway of life.” 1 


(f) The Influence of the Roman Church.—It would be 
unfair and absurd to claim that the present situation 
among the professors and students of the schools and 


1 As quoted in “ La Manana,” Montevideo, February lst, 1921, 


34 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


universities of Latin America is altogether due to the in- 
fluence of the Roman Church. There is a regrettable 
tendency of the same sort in the lands where the Evan- 
gelical churches are strongest, for youth and science are 
ever prone to question the Infinite. Yet no unprejudiced 
observer, who has really studied the situation, could fail 
to agree that back of all the present religious unrest 
among the intellectual classes of Latin America, lies deep 
distrust of the only expression of Christianity with which 
they have been familiar. Obscurantism has been greater 
in Latin-American lands, even than in Italy, Spain, and 
Portugal, where the great mass of the people retain a 
certain affection for the church, even when they do not 
yield blind obedience to it. 


2. In Political and Economic Conditions. 


(a) The Rule of the Oligarchs—So thoroughly did 
both state and church in the old days imbue the colonists 
with the spirit of submissiveness to monarchic authority, 
that the citizens of the republics established more than one 
hundred years ago, have not yet been able to establish true — 
democracies. In one or two of the countries farthest 
south, it may be said that the government is of the people 
and for the people, and by representatives of the people, 
regardless of social distinctions and classes. The others 
are ruled by a small group, although the government is 
republican in name and form. ‘The highest offices have a 
way of falling to members of certain families, even 
through successive generations, that is hardly consonant 
with the spirit of genuine democracy. For example, a . 
lady who recently died, in one of the countries on the west 
coast of South America, had been the daughter, the sister 
and the wife of a president of the republic, and her own 
son, a rising politician, may also dream of attaining the 
headship of the state. Where there is a large Indian 
population, the whites are in complete control, the native 
children of the soil having no part whatever in making 


The Existing Situation 35 


or executing the laws. It must be remembered that in 
some of these countries the large majority of the inhabit- 
ants are in no sense fitted to be responsible citizens of a 
republic, and it may be as well that a few of the better 
prepared are ready and willing to hold the reins of 
government. 

Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil are republics, in fact as 
well as form. In the first and last, the Roman Church has 
been disestablished ; and in Argentina it is looked upon as 
a mere social influence to be let alone as long as it does not 
interfere with matters of State. The evolution of govern- 
ment has seemed to be from the monarchy to the oligar- 
chy, and thence to democracy, each change resisted by the 
Church, whose temporal power is weakened as the evolu- 
tion is partially or wholly effected. 

(b) Patron and Peon.—In the same way, in the more 
intimate relations of employer and employed, the respect 
for authority, instilled through centuries of oppression, 
leads the labourer to yield a blind obedience. His condi- 
tion is but little, if any, above that of the helot in ancient 
Greece or the serf of the Middle Ages. This is particu- 
larly true on the great landed estates of the interior, where 
successive generations live and die, illiterate and with no 
religious instruction beyond that imparted by the priests 
in an occasional “ mission.” 

“The peon gets ten cents a day, if he works, but is 
charged twenty cents for each boon day he fails to work. 
For what he buys through his patron, he pays double. If he 
is in the way of getting out of debt, the timely present of a 
couple of bottles of aguardiente will make him drunk, and ir 
this expansive mood he may be induced to ‘buy’ enough 
goods to plunge him again in the quagmire of debt. In a 
court of law, the master’s ledger always outweighs the word 
of the peon. As regards the free pedns, the masters are too 
shrewd to bid against one another for their services, which 
would be a violation of class ethics. Just as with us it is 


wrong for one lady to ‘steal’ the domestic of another by 
offering her more wages.” } 


1, A. Ross, South of Panama, p. 149, 


36 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


In this economic and social situation the Latin-Ameri- 
can priests have resisted the introduction of schools, until 
‘obliged to yield, in some cases, through the competition of 
the Evangelical missionaries, and then have limited the in- 
struction given to the merest elementals. What these 
authorities have worked for in common with the land 
owner, is to keep intact that complete and supine submis- 
sion, which is not so readily yielded by those who have 
learned to read and gain a slight knowledge of conditions 
other than their own. 

(c) Industrial Unrest.—In spite of the long success of 
the attempts of the rich to keep the poor in subjection, 
there are not lacking evidences of discontent, which, in 
many cases have been manifested in strikes or in at- 
tempted revolutions. In Santiago de Chile, not many 
years ago, a mob took advantage of the absence of the 
troops on their annual manoeuvres and ruthlessly de- 
stroyed much property. It was prevented from sacking 
the city and butchering many of its inhabitants only by 
the return of the troops, which were rushed back in 
special trains. . | 

Labour unions have recently developed ata organised 
strength. ‘They exercise unusual power in the larger cities’ 
and at present use it recklessly. Strikes are often called 
for the most insignificant reason. In 1920, there were 
over two hundred strikes in Buenos Aires, alone, involv- 
ing almost 135,000 workmen. 

In all such movements of the humble classes against 
those whom they consider their oppressors, the Church is 
singled out as the object of special hatred. Rightly or . 
wrongly, the feeling exists that the Church has always 
been leagued with the oppressor of the working class, and 
it will take many years of devoted work on the part of its 
representatives today to overcome this belief. 

(d) Growing Pains Incident to Any Social Struggle to 
Break with the Past—With the coming of immigrants 
from Europe, many of whom are intelligent and skilled 


The Existing Situation 37 


artisans, and with the introduction of modern machinery 
in the factories and on the farms, new and unexpected 
ambitions have taken possession of the workingmen and 
the farm-labourers. ‘They have come to suspect that the 
future may hold better things in store for them, and, par- 
ticularly, for their children. This increasing tendency to 
think and act for themselves rather than allow themselves 
to be treated as mere animals is full of promise for the 
future of the labouring class in Latin America. 

The civic and social education of the working classes 
offers a great opportunity for the Evangelical Church. 
Since they have practically rejected the only form of 
Christianity to which they have been accustomed, these 
workers are apt, in the stress of their surge toward better 
living conditions and larger political rights, to yield them- 
selves to sheer infidelity or atheism. The great danger of 
Latin America today is this tendency to ignore or despise 
religion in all its forms. 


3. In the Social Code. 


(a) It Protects Men But Not Women.—In no phase of 
present day life in Latin America is the impact of the past 
so acutely felt, as in the influence of its social code on 
women. The members of the armed forces of Spain and 
Portugal which overran these Western lands in missions 
of conquest and subjugation were men who had formed 
but few family ties in the home land. When the native 
tribes succumbed to the shock of the Spanish or Portu- 
guese arms, the victorious invaders appropriated to them- 
selves the women of the conquered sons of the soil. This 
example was zealously imitated by the successive hordes 
of adventurers who followed as immigrants in the wake 
of the conquerors. ‘The social standards which were thus 
set up have largely determined the position of lower class 
women until the present day. In the country districts, in 
particular, few of the girls of the working class reach a 
marriageable age without experiencing motherhood, On 


38 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


the great estates, the daughter of the peon is looked upon 
as lawful prey for the sons of the patron. The large num- 
ber of Indian women in some countries, who are generally 
of easy virtue, and the excess of females over the males in 
others, due to civil wars, have also contributed to the 
weakening of any inherited ideas of virtue. No better 
summing up of the situation could be given than is found 
in an address delivered by a leading physician of Uruguay 
at the Second American Congress on Child Welfare, held 
in Montevideo, in 1919. Among other things, speaking 
of child abandonment, he said: 


“ With comparative frequency I have noted among women, 
who were neither ignorant nor indigent, another cause of 
abandonment. Seduced by individuals of a higher social 
standing, which precluded all hope of legal reparation, as by 
marriage or by the legitimation of the child, or, it may be, by 
those impudent specimens who abound in country districts, 
and who record their conquests with the same satisfaction 
that a hunter computes the number of pieces that have fallen 
under his gun, maternity brings with it such a feeling of 
repulsion and rebellion that the child inherits the hatred en- 
gendered in the mother.” + ; 


The above makes it hardly necessary to say that the 
social organisation centers very largely around the man. 


“The husband owes his wife protection, while she owes 
him obedience. He is legally responsible for her acts, though 
not for her crimes. She has no voice as to her place of resi- 
dence, but is bound to follow him, whatever be the danger to 
her health, happiness or even life. 

“ Without her husband’s consent, she cannot bring a law- 
suit, make or dissolve a contract, forgive a debt, take or . 
reject a gift, inheritance or legacy, be executrix, or buy, 
alienate or mortgage productive property. If the husband 
should object, even a deserted wife may not pawn her 
personal jewels to buy herself bread, nor may she take 
employment as a servant, needle woman, mill operative, or 
stenographer. . . . The illegitimate child may start an 


1Dr. Augusto Turenne, Prophylaxis of the Abandonment of 
the Child, pp. 7-8. 


The Existing Situation 39 


inquiry to find out who his mother was, but not to ascertain 
who his father was, because this would threaten the peace of 
the home.” + 


(b) Advances Made by Feminist Forces—The Latin 
American woman is essentially a home-maker. When 
trouble has come, she has borne it patiently and uncom- 
plainingly, with no thought of securing redress before the 
law or society. 

Of late years, however, due in part to the influence of 
visiting foreigners and travel abroad in the United States 
and Europe, feminist societies of different kinds have been 
formed in almost every country of Latin America, whose 
members maintain a constant and helpful contact with 
women of other lands. In Peru, for example, one of the 
most conservative countries of Latin America, a society 
has been formed to advocate the following program: 


1. Opportunity for an ample culture which will enable 

women to carry out efficaciously their mission. 

2. Since the first need of a state is to develop motherhood, 
domestic sciences should constitute the basis of feminine 
education. 

. The dignifying of work for women. 

. The defense of her rights. 

. The establishment of equality of man and woman before 

the courts and in matrimony. 

A campaign against all social vices. 

. A stimulation of the performance of social and altruistic 

service. 

. Adhesion to movements for peace and idealism. 


CNA Upw 


In some of the most advanced countries such as Uru- 
guay, there are divorce laws, and other states, even con- 
servative Peru, are following this example, although such 
legislation is always bitterly opposed by the Church. The 
entrance of the Young Women’s Christian Association 
into some of the countries of South America will do much 
toward imparting to the younger women a higher realisa- 
tion of their responsibilities and opportunities. 


1K. A. Ross, South of Panama, pp. 201-202. 


40 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


Argentina has gone further than any other country in 
the matter of women’s clubs and work. The “ National 
Council of Women” is a real power in the moulding of 
public opinion and in securing legislation. ae the de- 
mands of the Council are the following: 


1. The repeal of all laws which establish a legal difference 

between the sexes. 

2. The right of women to hold public office, and, particularly, 
to be members of the national and regional Educational 
Councils. 

. The establishing of special courts for women and 
children, 

. The enactment of laws for the protection of TatCRHee 
and for the legitimising of all children. 

. The abolition of all legalised prostitution and of a double 
standard for the sexes. 

. The equalisation of salaries. 

. The equalisation of political rights. 


. In the Religious Life. 


(a) The Women Are Generally Faithful to Their 
Church.—The very large majority of the women of Latin 
America, especially those of the upper and middle classes, 
are devout and zealous Roman Catholics. Many attend 
mass regularly, generally at an early hour of the day; not 
a few make it a practice to attend every day in the year. 
Most women are also careful to observe the ordinances of 
their church to the fullest extent of their ability. The 
word of the priest is absolute law for the most faithful 
and his influence in the home is superior to all others. 
Through the confessional he learns the most intimate 
secrets of each home. 

In spite of this close surveillance of her acts, and not 
because of it, religion is a very strong influence in the life 
of the average woman. One will find as sweet-tempered, — 
charitably-minded, truly Christian women in Latin Amer- 
ica as in any other country of the world, and many 
of them. 

(b) The Alienation of the Men—While the above is 


RNA HF ff W 


Pee 


The Existing Situation Al 


true in regard to the women who show but little inclina- 
tion to break with the traditions of the past, the exact 
Opposite must be said about the men. Those who belong 
to the intellectual class are brilliant and attractive and 
often of the highest honour and ideals. But, as a general 
rule, and with but few exceptions, they are utterly in- 
different to the claims of Christianity. They are seldom 
hostile to the Church, unless it interferes in politics, but 
they seem to regard religion as a matter which lies outside 
their responsibility and concern. It is good for the 
women and children and the working class, keeping them 
either occupied or docile, and may be safely left to them. 
In the minds of the most influential men, religion tends to 
be classed as a sort of medieval philosophy which has 
been tried as a remedy for soul hunger and found wanting 
and has been consigned to the limbo of useless and worn- 
out theories. For this attitude of mind the Roman 
Church itself is responsible. From the beginning of its 
power in Latin American countries it has laid undue stress 
on blind assent to the teachings of the Church and on the 
externalities of worship, working mechanically, as of sav- 
ing value; and its ministers have been neither models in 
conduct nor intellectual leaders. The Church has made no 
effort to interpret religion as something which should 
transform the daily life or to rouse the soul of the people. 
It has, in consequence, lost its hold on the conscience of 
the thinking classes. 

One priest is quoted as saying that in Buenos Aires, 
then a city of a million inhabitants, he did not believe that 
two hundred men could be found in Church services on a 
given Sunday. The Archbishop of San Paulo, Brazil, has 
said : 


“Brazil has no longer any faith. Religion is almost 
extinct here.” 


Another writer, referring to the intellectual class of 
Brazil, says: 


42 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


“ Statesmen, lawyers, physicians, army and navy officials 
almost to a man, have rejected the historic Christ, and have 
turned to infidelity and positivism. In one city of 35,000 in- 
habitants, after careful investigation, only two hundred per- 
sons could be found who were in full communion with the 
Roman Church.” + 

(c) Mary, Not Her Son, ts the Center of W orship.-—A 
distinctive feature of Roman Catholic worship in all lands 
is what Evangelicals consider the undue reverence paid to 
the Virgin Mary. In Latin America this. reverence is car- 
ried to an extreme not known elsewhere. It is her image 
which occupies the post of honour on flying buttress or 
lofty tower; it is her altar which is most gorgeously be- 
decked, before which the largest number of worshippers 
bow in prayer. She is represented as womanly human 
and alive to our weaknesses. She easily forgives. ‘The 
Son is Judge, as well as Saviour, but yields to the inter- 
cession of his mother. 

The Breviary is the official prayer book for all the or- 
dained clergymen of the Roman Catholic Church, just as 
the Missal is the official book used in the offering of the 
Mass as sacrifice. According to these official texts, only — 
one day in the year is given to the Holy Trinity for a 
special office of worship, and about seventy to the Virgin 
Mary, and the Mass celebrated in honour of the Virgin 
ranks several degrees above that in honour of the Trinity. 

One of the catechisms of the Church gives the follow- 
ing directions for her worship: 


“ Whom should we in particular honour and invoke above . 
the Angels and Saints?” 
“Mary, the blessed Virgin, and Mother of God.” 
i Why should we particularly honour and invoke Mary?” 
‘1. Because she is the Mother of God, and therefore sur- 
passes the Angels and Saints in Glory. 
‘2. Because for that very reason her intercession with 
God is most powerful.” 


1 Isaacson, Rome in Many Lands, p. 160. 


The Existing Situation 43 


“ Should we also honour the images of Jesus Christ and 
the Saints? ” 

“Yes, certainly for if even a child honours the likenesses 
of his parents and a subject the image of his prince, so much 
the more must we honour the images of our Lord and of 
his saints,” + 


“Come unto Mary, all ye who labour and are heavy 
laden, and she will give you rest,” are the words placed 
above the entrance to the church of the Jesuits in Cuzco, 
Peru, in order to keep them before the eyes of the entering 
worshippers. 

(d) The Bible Lackmg.—Although the authorities of 
the Roman Catholic Church seldom fail to claim that their 
people have free access to the Bible and are urged to read 
it, real experience in Latin America seems to prove the 
exact opposite of this statement. Now and then, a zealous 
priest will be found who earnestly tries to cultivate an in- 
terest in the Bible among his parishioners, but such are the 
exception, and they are not encouraged in their efforts. 
Bible agents and colporteurs all over Latin America have 
been persecuted by the priesthood, and even thrown into 
prison and done to death in order to prevent the circula- 
tion of the Scriptures. Outside of the agencies main- 
tained by the Bible Societies and the various Evangelical 
missions, it is exceedingly difficult, even in the leading 
cities, to secure a copy of the Bible, or of portions of 
Scripture, even of the versions that have been authorised 
by the Roman Church. It may be said, with no exagger- | 
ation, that were it not for the work of the Evangelical 
missionaries in past years, it would be next to impossible 
to find a copy of the Scriptures in the vernacular in any 
part of the great region under study. 

The settlers of Anglo-Saxon America brought with 
them not only a heritage of great memories and a religious 
conviction deep enough to send them into voluntary exile 
in the midst of the new and distressing conditions that 


1 Deharbe’s Catechism, p. 180. 


4A Roman Christianity in Latin America 


prevail in an unknown land, but also that great classic, the 
English Bible, rendered into our tongue when the English 
language was a fountain of fresh and invigorating speech. 
Published almost simultaneously with the establishment 
of the first permanent English settlement in the New 
World, it became woven into their lives, and largely 
shaped their political, ethical, and social organisations. 
Latin America has never been permitted the inspiration of 
this Book. “’The Magna Charta of the poor and op- 
pressed, the most democratic book in the world” has not 
been placed in the hands of the people of these lands and 
they have lost thereby. 

The reasons given by Rome for its virulent opposition 
to the circulation of the Scriptures, whether in Latin 
America or other parts of the world, may be briefly 
summarized : 

The Church maintains that God reveals his truth in the 
Holy Scriptures and tradition ; we can know the true sense 
of the Scriptures only from the Church, because the 
Church alone cannot err in interpreting it. The Bible by 
itself is not a sufficient rule of faith; but the Bible and 
tradition, both infallibly interpreted by the Church, are 
the right rule of faith. Tradition is the unwritten doc- . 
trine of the Apostles handed down in the Church from 
generation to generation, and is contained chiefly in the 
decrees of the Councils, in the writings of the Fathers, in 
the acts of the Holy See, and in the words and usages of 
the Sacred Liturgy. ‘Tradition has the same value as 
Scripture because, according to the Church, it has been 
revealed in the same way. ‘Therefore, the circulation of 
the Bible alone, without notes that have been approved by 
the Church, is forbidden. 

It is well known that the early Fathers of the Christian 
Church, such as Clement, Justin, Tertullian, Chrysostom, 
Jerome and Augustine, recommended the reading of the 
Bible by all classes of the people. But during the Middle 
Ages, when the Waldensians sprang up in Italy, and the 


The Existing Situation 45 


Albigensians in France, these biblical Christians quoted 
the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, in support 
of their own views and in criticism of the abuses and 
errors of the Vatican. Consequently, the ecclesiastics 
began to forbid the Bible to the common people. On the 
other hand, as late as the beginning of the thirteenth cen- 
tury, the founder of the Franciscan order solemnly com- 
mended to his brethren the reading of the Gospel of Jesus 
Christ without notes, and pronounced a curse on all who 
wanted to insist on publishing commentaries on the Word. 

Pope Leo XIII. was considered very liberal minded. 
Yet, in his bull, “ Providentissimus Deus,” devoted to the 
instruction of scholars and teachers of the Bible, he says: 
“They may understand that God has delivered the Holy 
Scriptures to the Church and that in reading and making 
use of His Word they must follow the Church as their 
guide and their teacher.” And again, addressing the same 
persons, he says: “ The sense of the Holy Scriptures can- 
not anywhere be found incorrupt, outside of the Church.” 

In consonance with this attitude of its Councils, very 
naturally the Church opposes the work of the Bible Socie- 
ties because they distribute versions which it has not au- 
thorised ; but why does it do so little to put into circulation 
its own version? It is rather remarkable that there are | 
some eighty Protestant Bible Societies, but not one that | 
has been established and maintained by the Roman 
Catholics. 

The Catholic Encyclopedia states that: “The attitude 
of the Church toward the Bible societies is one of unmis- 
takable opposition. Believing herself to be the divinely 
appointed custodian and interpreter of Holy Writ, she 
cannot, without turning traitor to herself, approve the 
distribution of scripture, without note or comment. But 
such distribution would be likewise a violation of one of 
the first principles of the Catholic faith,—the principle ar- 
rived at through observation as well as by revelation of 
the insufficiency of the scriptures alone to convey to the 


46 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


general reader a sure knowledge of faith and morals. 
Consequently, the Council of Trent, in its fourth session, 
after expressly condemning all interpretations of the 
sacred texts which contradict the past and present inter- 
pretations of the Church, orders the Catholic publishers 
to see to it that their editions of the Bible have the ap- 
proval of the bishop.” 

Leo XII., in his ‘‘ Ubi Primum,” says: “ You are aware, 
Venerable Brothers, that a certain Bible society is impu- 
dently spreading throughout the world, which, despising 
the traditions of the Holy Fathers and the decree of the 
Council of Trent, is endeavouring to translate, or rather 
to pervert, the scriptures into the vernacular of all na- 
tions. . . . It is to be feared that by false interpreta- 
tion the Gospel of Christ will become the Gospel of men, 
or still worse, the Gospel of the Devil.” 

Pius IX., in “ Qui Pluribus,” says: “ These crafty Bible 
societies, which renew the ancient guile of heretics, cease 
not to thrust their Bible upon all men, even on the un- 
learned,—their Bibles, which have been translated against — 
the laws of the Church, and often contain false explana- 
tions of the texts; thus the divine traditions, the teaching 
of the Fathers and the authority of the Catholic Church ~ 
are rejected, and everyone in his own way interprets the 
words of the Gospel.” 

(e) A Sense of the Responsibility of Stewardship is 
Lacking—There is no doubt that the Roman Catholic 
Church in Latin America knows how to secure contribu- 
tions to its work from both rich and poor; nor can any 
one question that this knowledge is put into practice. As 
proof, one has but to note the immense number of 
churches as well as the monasteries, convents, hospitals, 
schools, and other institutions that are found in bewilder- 
ing confusion. Even in the country districts no one can 
travel far without finding numerous buildings belonging 
to the Church. It, also, holds title to enormous tracts of 
land, in many countries, from which it must derive a sub- 


The Existing Situation AN] 


stantial income. No matter how seemingly contradictory, 
it must be insisted, nevertheless, that it has not inculcated 
among its people a sense of stewardship. Much money is 
given through fear or in exchange for favours which only 
the Church can bestow. The giving is largely mechanical, 
rather than through a deep recognition of the responsibili- 
ties of stewardship. The alms given for the erection of 
hospitals, churches, and other buildings often constitute 
the good works which, with confession and communion, 
are the conditions on which the contributors secure indul- 
gences. While the Church may secure great sums of 
money, the methods by which it is obtained kill the selfless 
element which is the heart of the principle of stewardship. 

(f) Intellectual Assent, Not Conversion, Demanded by 
the Church—Conversion, as understood by the Evangel- 
ical Churches, is not deemed necessary by the Roman 
Catholic Church. According to the Roman Catholic 
Church the sacraments of baptism and ordination impress 
on one an indelible character which will not be blotted out, 
even in the life to come. Once baptism is administered, 
says the Roman Catholic, the child and adult remains a 
Roman Catholic. He may apostatise when he becomes 
capable of exercising his own judgment, but no matter 
what his life may have been, the Church may still claim 
him if she wishes. Nothing but her own ban of excom- 
munication can break the bond which was formed at 
baptism. Many a man has said to the writer, with the 
expressive Latin shrug of the shoulders, “I am a Catholic 
because so baptised ; but I have no use for the Church and 
never go near it.” 

In addition to baptism, the Church insists on being 
present on the two other most important occasions of a 
man’s life,—at his marriage and at his death. At mar- 
riage, the man will naturally yield to the wishes of the 
bride. At death he again has no choice. The priest is 
called in at the last moment, the sacred wafer is admin- 
istered when he is very often too weak to resist, the 


48 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


candles are lighted about his bier, and, no matter what his 
private life may have been, having received the ministra- 
tions of the Church, his family is made to believe in his 
salvation. The divorce between religion and ethical stand- 
ards of conduct, which actually exists, can probably be 
traced to the unfortunate substitution of intellectual as- 
sent for real conversion. So long as one assents to its 
doctrines and gives it influence and support, the matter of 
private conduct does not enter into consideration. 

(g) Romanism is a Philosophy as Well as a Religson— 
Centuries of unenlightened teachings have produced a 
peculiar type of Romanist mind. Any degree of religious 
inquiry is at once dubbed a heresy. All investigation is 
feared and the dictates of the Church are blindly accepted 
without questioning. The Index Expurgatorius elimi- 
nates all books and literature that might contaminate the 
mind of the faithful Catholic, so that his mind is thus pre- 
served intact to the influences of the Church. 

The teaching that the Church is the only channel of 
grace and blessing leads to supineness on the part of the 
individual. He is dependent on the Church for salvation, 
since God works through it as through an efficient ma- | 
chine that cannot fail in delivering the tale of goods de-- 
manded from it. “God touches human life only from 
without ” is the philosophy of the faithful one, “and 
whatever of good is accomplished must be by the divine 
activity completely isolated from the human, and, there- 
fore, not subject to any moral conditions.” + 


“Anyone who would sustain that the Sacraments of the 
New Testament do not confer grace, ex opere operato, that . 
is, by themselves, with no reference to the recipient or the 
one who administers them, let him be excommunicated.” 
(Council of Trent, Session 7, Canon 8.) 


Such paralysing philosophy is the secret of the religious | 
backwardness of the average Latin American. 


> 


3 Frederick Platt, Jmmanence and Christian Thought.” 


The Existing Situation 49 


(h) The Evangel of Rome is Sacerdotal and Symbolic. 
—Roman Christianity is essentially a sacramentarian re- 
ligion. The Holy Eucharist is held to be the real body of 
our Lord, bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, under the 
appearance of bread and wine. On this point, the teach- 
ing of the Church is plain, as declared at the Council of 
Trent, Session 13, Canon 1: 


“Tf any one affirms that the Eucharist does not contain, 
truly, really, substantially, the body and blood, together 
with the soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, and there- 
fore, the complete and absolute Christ himself, let him be 
excommunicated.” 


The worshipper finds it necessary to approach God 
through images. Not‘only are the churches of Latin 
America full of these man-made helps to devotion, but the 
streets and country lanes have their due proportion of 
them, before which the simple-minded peasant bows in 
utter devotion, with the probability that, in most cases, his 
ideas go but little beyond what he sees before him. 

All this produces a pseudo-loyalty to the organisation 
and makes easy the control of the masses. If it develops 
a type of piety, it is a piety which lacks initiative or ag- 
gressiveness, and it does not develop a strong, virile, up- 
standing faith. \ 

(1) Rome is Not Missionary; Witness the Pagan In- 
dians.—There are no exact statistics of the Indian popu- 
lation of Latin America, but the mose careful estimate 
places the figure at 17,000,000. Of this number a great 
many are nominally Roman Catholics, although their state 
of faith is little more than a baptised paganism, in which 
Christian sacraments are oddly blended with the most gro- 
tesque and repulsive native superstitions and observances. 

But, far in the interior, especially of South America, 
there are many tribes that have never been reached with 
the gospel message. Rome has been busy fortifying her- 
self in the cities and communities of European origin, and 


50 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


has given little thought to the millions of natives who are 
today, after more than four hundred years of unlimited 
opportunity, throughout all this great region, as thor- 
oughly pagan as when Columbus first turned his caravels 
toward the West and his successors took possession of the 
continent in the name of the Catholic King and Queen 
of Spain. 

One of the best known missionaries of the “ South 
American Missionary Society,” in referring to the work 
of his Society in the far interior of the continent, has said: 


“The Roman Catholic Church at the present time is for 
practical purposes outside of consideration, so far as solving — 
the problem of the salvation of these tribes is concerned, 
and, so far as I know, it does not appear likely to attempt the 
solution. On the borders its representatives are less ener- 
getic than at previous periods. To such an extent is this so, 
that in all my experience our missionaries have never come 
into collision, nor been brought into contact with them. In 
vast districts, over wide areas, the Roman Church is not 
even known, nor have the Indians here any traditions con- 
cerning it. We are unquestionably the first and only people 
who have attempted to reach many of the tribes under dis- 
cussion, and our chief work has been centered’on them. On 
the borders, chiefly in Bolivia, the Roman Catholic Church 
has had missions for many years, but it is not extending 
these and is not reaching the more remote tribes. In the 
Paraguayan and Bolivian Chacos proper, a region prac- 
tically unoccupied and to a great extent unexplored, and 
among the greater number of the Argentine Indians, little 
is being done.” ? 


In the great forests of Brazil there is a population of 
pagan Indians of which no exact estimate can be made, 
because no white man has ever explored that region. In 
Ecuador, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, are a number 
of tribes,—among them the head-hunters, whose grim 
trophies may yet be secured in the coast cities—and in 
Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia and Peru there is a consid- 
erable population of pagans. Pagans are found, also, 


1W. B. Grubb, Report of Panama Congress, Vol. I, p. 97. 


The Existing Situation 51 


along the Atlantic coast of Panama, where we have the 
San Blas Indians, the Mosquito Coast of Central America 
and the interior of the republics of Central America, and 
through Mexico to the Rio Grande. 

This attitude of the Church toward the Indian is a 
throw back from that held by the early conquerors. The 
character and habits of the early clergy who came with 
them have been perpetuated to our own times, with little 
break in continuity ; and any important change in the near 
future is improbable. Much valuable missionary work 
has been done by the Roman Church in other non- 
Christian lands, and many of its representatives have wil- 
lingly gone to their death in defense of the doctrine which 
they preached. But this missionary spirit has shown itself 
but slightly in Latin America, where it has had and does 
have an unusual and unique opportunity. The millions of 
pagan Indians of today and their descendants of tomor- 
row seem destined to go down to their graves in ignorance 
of the gospel unless the Evangelical Churches, scarcely 
less recreant to their responsibilities, heed their call and 
prepare to answer it. 

Not only is this lack of the evangelistic spirit true of the 
great interior, among the Indians, but in the more civilised 
centers and even in the great cities adequate provision for 
the spiritual care of the people is not provided by the 
Roman Church. 

Paraguay has but eighty-four priests to minister to a 
population of one million. More than half of these priests 
are located in the capital, Asuncion, which has a popula- 
tion of about 100,000, leaving the others to minister to 
their 900,000 fellow countrymen scattered over a terri- 
tory as large as that of New England. In all Bolivia, 
with three millions of population, in a territory six times 
as large as New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and 
Delaware, there are but three hundred twenty-eight parish 
churches, eighty-three of which are reported to be without 
priests. In the Beni, a large district of: Bolivia in the 


52 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


tropical region of the East, with a population of 50,000, 
there are but four priests. And the Papal delegate who 
recently visited this district is quoted as having said that 
he found: “A territory of 72,000: square kilometers in 
extent, without a priest and without a church.’ 

On a recent trip to the region of the Sinu River, in 
Colombia, the writer was told that in this population of 
100,000 there are but three priests. In the City of Buenos 
Aires, with two million inhabitants, there are but thirty- 
five parochial churches, and, counting all chapels, but one 
hundred sixteen places of Roman Catholic worship. 
Philadelphia, with approximately the same population, in 
addition to seven hundred Protestant churches, is said to 
have two hundred eighty-five Roman Catholic places of 
worship. New York City has five hundred thirty, and 
Brooklyn, alone, with about the population of Buenos 
Aires, has one hundred twenty churches, or almost three 
times the number to be found in the southern city. 

The above figures are offered as a mere statement of 
facts and are not to be taken as criticism. Possibly the 
criticism would fall to the Evangelical churches which 
have left one single branch of the Christian church to bear 
alone the responsibility for the evangelisation and Chris- 
tian education of the teeming millions in Latin America. 

(j) The Spirit of the Inquisition is Stull Strong—tIt 
must not be forgotten that Roman Christianity was 
brought to Latin America at a time when religious feeling 
_ ran high in Europe, and when intolerance was a marked 
characteristic of all parties. The Roman Church in Spain 
and Portugal, moreover, was then, as now, in this respect . 
far below its own level in other European countries, es- 
pecially France and Germany. ‘The priests, particularly 
those who crossed the seas to the new colonies of the 
Catholic kings of Spain, were comparatively illiterate and 
less tolerant than those who came from other countries of 
Europe. Unfortunately Latin America has continued to 
receive many others of this obscurantist type, and they 


The Existing Situation 53 


have laboured hard to keep up the traditions of their 
predecessors. Few native born men of a superior type 
and preparation have entered the ranks of the clergy, and 
those recruits from the lower classes of society have been 
readily influenced by their foreign ecclesiastical superiors. 

As has been pointed out above, the spirit of the Middle 
Ages still runs strong in present day Romanism in Latin 
America. Evangelical missionaries and Bible agents in all 
parts of Latin America could make statements showing 
that this spirit, revengeful and intolerant, is still strong, 
especially among the priests of foreign birth. 

Fortunately not all the clergy are of this type. Some 
are openly expressing their approval of Evangelical mis- 
sions, and their hope that, with the aid of the Evangelical 
movement, the tide towards atheism and agnosticism may 
be stayed. 

One of the best statements from Roman Catholics as to 
the value of Evangelical mission work in Latin America, 
was made by a Bishop of that Church, in Chile, during the 
meeting of the Eucharistic Congress, held in the capital of 
that country, in 1922. One of the subjects which came up 
for discussion was, “ What shall we do with the Protest- 
ants?” A number of those present seemed to be inspired 
with the spirit of the Holy Office of the Inquisition and 
their advice was, “ Let us burn them at the stake and get 
rid of them.’ After a number had spoken in this way, 
Bishop Edwards, whose name shows that he is a descend- 
ant of Anglo-Saxons, said: “ Brethren, you may say what 
you will about the Protestants, but they have three things 
that we may well learn from them. They have a clergy 
whose life is beyond reproach, whereas ours is the laugh- 
ing stock of the whole country. They preach and they 
practice temperance, and we ought to do the same. They 
have the open Bible and put it into the hands. of their 
people.” * 

It is interesting to know that, as a result of opinions like 


1 Cited in All the World, April, 1923. 


54 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


the above, which were freely expressed in this Congress, 
the Roman Catholic Church, in Chile, has prepared an 
edition of the four Gospels and now offers it for sale by 
its agents and at a very low price. 

As the ranks of the priesthood are: renewed by young 
Latin Americans who grow up under more liberal laws 
and in a period when their people are in closer contact 
with other and more advanced nations, the bigotry of the 
past must gradually disappear, and a spirit of greater lib- 
erality take its place. Latin America gains immensely by 
the fact that the convents and seminaries of Spain and 
Portugal no longer have a monopoly in the recruiting of 
the priesthood. 

(k) Rome Does Not Understand the Motive of Evan- 
gelical Christianity—The hierarchy of the Roman 
Church, while admitting the success of the missionary 
work that is carried on by evangelicals, classifies Protest- 
antism and Mohammedanism together as its chief “ com- 
petitors”’ and endeavours to explain their success in 
various ways. Large salaries paid missionaries, who are 
often charged with being emissaries of a foreign govern- 
ment; the “ daring, adventurous, and commanding nature 
of the Anglo-Saxon race”; the economic prosperity of the - 
Protestant powers; the unquestioned religious fervour of 
certain of the various sects; the vast educational work 
carried on from press and pulpit; and the extensive and 
admirable organisation of missionary activities are cred- 
ited with the success attained ; but that evangelical Chris- 
tianity has any deep and abiding interest in the salvation 
of souls would be strenuously denied. In fact, Protestant- 
ism, although admitted to be a form of Christianity, a 
schism from the mother church, is not considered capable 
of announcing the real gospel, and Protestants themselves 
constitute a proper field for Roman Catholic missions. 
One of their writers states that the Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Faith has spent on its missions in the United 
States, since 1822, a little less than $7,000,000. 


The Existing Situation 55 


(1) Roman Christianity in Latin America a Peculiar 
Type.—It is scarcely necessary to restate here that the 
form of Roman Christianity common in Latin America is 
different from that which is known in the United States, 
Great, Britain, and certain countries of Europe, such as 
France and Germany. In the United States, no one will 
deny the great services rendered by its clergy, especially 
in caring for the generally ignorant and often indigent im- 
migrants from Southern Europe. The spirit of liberty in 
which they have been educated in our institutions of learn- 
ing does not produce fanatics in religion. Cardinal Gib- 
bons, once Archbishop of Baltimore, has said: 


“Fifteen millions of Catholics live their lives in our land 
with undisturbed belief in the perfect harmony existing be- 
tween their religion and their duties as American citizens. 
It never occurs to their minds to question the truth of a 
belief which all their experience confirms. Love of religion 
and love of country burn together in their hearts. They love 
their church as the divine spiritual society set up by Jesus 
Christ, through which they are brought into a closer com- 
munion with God, learn His revealed truth and His holy law, 
receive the help they need to lead Christian lives and are 
inspired with the hope of eternal happiness. They love their 
country with the spontaneous and ardent love of all patriots, 
because it is their country and the source to them of untold 
blessings. They prefer its form of government before any 
other. They admire its institutions and the spirit of its 
laws. They accept the Constitution without reserve, with no 
desire, as Catholics, to see it changed in any feature. They 
can with a clear conscience swear to uphold it. American 
Catholics rejoice in our separation of Church and State; and 
I can conceive no combination of circumstances likely to 
arise which should make a union desirable either to Church 
or State.” + 


Moreover, the North American priesthood, as a rule, is 
drawn from a class of men who differ widely from the 
priests who come to Latin America from the schools of 
Southern Europe, both in intellectual preparation and eth- 
ical conduct, and their influence on the community has 


1 The North American Review, March, 1909, 


56 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


been salutary and uplifting. These same Roman Catholic 
Christians in the United States might do much toward the 
bettering of conditions in Latin America by toning up the 
priesthood through the placing of chosen representatives 
in positions of helpful contact. Some of them are lament- 
ing their failure to do this in the past, and do not hesitate 
to declare themselves on this point. One young lady re- 
ports that when certain friends informed the priest in her 
home town of her intention to go to one of the republics 
of South America as a Protestant missionary, he simply 
remarked, “ Had we done our duty by South America, it 
would not be necessary for the Protestants to send mis- 
sionaries to those peoples.” 

The striking difference between Roman Christianity in 
Latin America and that in the United States can be proved 
by the testimonies and experiences of our Roman Catho- 
lic fellow-citizens who have spent any time in these lands. 
Many of them sever their connection with their Church 
while abroad; some attend the Protestant Churches of 
English speech; and not a few declare emphatically that 
what they have seen of the working of Roman. Christian- 
ity in Latin America is in no sense typical of their religion. 

The writer recalls, among many such people whom he 
has met while travelling around and across the continent, 
a young lady who had spent some time in one of the South 
American countries in the capacity of a trained nurse and 
was then returning home on the completion of her con- 
tract. When asked the direct question, as to her opinion 
of her Church, as she had seen it in the republic which had 
been her home for two years, she replied, “ I have not seen. 
my Church in South America.” In the conversation that 
followed she explained that she could not accept what she 
saw as a part of the Church in which she had been reared 
and which she evidently loved. She had found the priest- 
hood corrupt, and exclaimed, “ I would not go to hear one 
of them say mass; much less would I confess to them; I 
could not bear to go near them,” 


The Existing Situation 57 


The severest condemnation, in many cases, of the situ- 
ation of Roman Christianity in Latin America has come 
from the lips of faithful sons and daughters of that same 
Church, who love it almost as they love their own 
mothers, and long for its regeneration in these republics of 
Latin America that will bring its standards and practices 
there to the same level they occupy in their home land. 

When this sentiment becomes more general and the 
great forces of Roman Christianity awake to a full real- 
isation of their responsibilities and opportunities in Latin 
America, it is possible that evangelical Christianity may 
find its work over and be able to begin the transfer of its 
forces to other fields. This would seem to be a desirable 
solution of the present problem. But at present the duty 
of evangelical Christianity in these lands is clear and can- 
not be left undone. 


IV 
THE APPEAL OF ROME 


In view of the rather distressing situation described 
above, many readers will very naturally ask, “ What, then, 
is the appeal which Roman Christianity makes to the 
people of Latin America? How does it maintain a hold 
on the affections and loyalty of such a large number of 
the people?” 

The first answer that might be made to these questions 
will at once occur to any student of education. It is well 
known that the impressions received in childhood are 
never entirely lost. In the matter of religion, the child 
will almost invariably follow the teaching of the mother, 
the girl, in general, during her whole life and the boy, at 
least, until he thinks for himself. ‘The Latin-American 
mother is almost invariably a Roman Catholic, under the 
constant and careful tutelage of her confessor. The boy 
or girl who is reared under these conditions will receive © 
impressions that can never be entirely obliterated. 

The second answer may be found in the fact that the 
Latin American is undoubtedly more religious by nature, 
than his more cold-blooded and phlegmatic Anglo-Saxon 
brother. ‘The Roman Church, through its close union 
with the autocratic Spanish government, has managed to 
amonopolise, from the time of its arrival among the - 
aborigines of Latin America, all religious teaching. Save 
for the ragged remains of a rather crass paganism, it fur- 
nished the only possible channel for the outward mani- 
festation of this natural religious temperament. 

But there are a number of other appeals which, with 
varying intensity, affect the Latin American through all 


58 


The Appeal of Rome 59 


his life, and follow him even to the gates of the grave. 
Some may be mentioned as follows: 


1, The Church Makes a Strong Appeal to the Senses. 


A French writer declared that a “ Protestant church is 
one of the dreariest places on earth.” One who has been 
accustomed to gorgeous vestments, to alluring music, to 
an ornate interior of the place of worship, to swinging 
censers with their clouds of incense, to various altars blaz- 
ing with lights, to images often decorated with flowers, 
and, almost human to the untutored mind, in their appeal- 
ing postures as well as in their sculptural forms, to the 
stately ritual, intoned in an unknown tongue, and to a 
growing sense of the mystery of it all, may well under- 
stand his remark. 

Many men and women like to have their religion in- 
terwoven with mystery and magic, with miracle and 
wonder-working sacrament, with incidents that absorb 
the interest, and Catholicism emphasises its traditional 
human elements in a way that makes large appeal to the 
Latin heart. 

The Protestant, perhaps to an unwarranted degree, has 
banished from his meeting house all that appeals to sense, 
and boasts that he seeks only that which is spiritual. 
Many of the Evangelical church edifices in Latin America 
have been planned by well-intentioned missionary archi- 
tects who seem to have possessed a peculiar genius for 
achieving the commonplace and the unattractive. The re- 
sults of their endeavours are altogether out of harmony 
with the style of architecture which prevails; hence, the 
beauty-loving Latin is not attracted to enter the buildings 
because they do outrage to his artistic temperament. 

The Latin American is fond of the ornate, and this 
fondness is increased in proportion to the degree that 
Indian blood predominates in his veins. Decorations that 
seem cheap and tawdry to the colder Anglo-Saxons of the 
North are to him as visions of Elysian fields, a very fit 


60 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


dwelling place for God, who, as he has been taught to 
believe, abides near the altar, enshrouded in the folds of 
the sacred wafer. 

A Mexican writer says: 


“The races of the North had in their very nature a pre- 
disposition for the severity of Protestant worship; the men 
of the South, endowed with ardent imagination, could not 
rest satisfied with such arid practices. The dazzling cere- 
monies of the Catholic Church and its poetic and ardent peti- 
tions, were for them a necessity, a spiritual food, without 
which they could neither preserve nor understand the reli- 
gious life of the Spirit.” + 


A service which the writer once attended on the high 
Bolivian plateau may illustrate this point. Passing along 
a narrow street of the capital city his attention was at- 
tracted by the sound of music issuing from a nearby 
church. Interested to see an Indian congregation at wor- 
ship, he entered and remained standing at the door. There 
were present in all some fifty persons, the majority of 
them Indians, some of them kneeling, others standing in 
courteous, if not reverent, attention, others openly scof- 
fing at what was going on about them. The band was 
playing a selection of secular music; the priests, gor- 
geously clothed in the vestments of their office, with 
their backs to the audience, were intoning the mass in 
Latin, which no one understood; the walls and altars 
were decorated with bright-coloured tinsel; the air was 
heavy with sweet-smelling incense; and the blazing can- 
dles lit up the scene in vivid contrast to the cold, dark 
night without. 

Into the midst of this service staggered an Indian 
woman over whose head many winters and summers had 
passed, leaving her hair white and her features wrinkled 
and scorched with the cold of the high plains, A heavy 
burden lay in a sack on her shoulders, and this she grad- 
ually eased to the floor, then stood looking about her. 


1 Riva-Palacio, quoted by H. W. Brown in Latin America, p. 243. 


The Appeal of Rome 61 


Soon she sank to her knees, made the sign of the cross, 
and continued to gaze with wide open eyes at the lights 
and the changing scene. The band crashed on, the dron- 
ing voices of the priests filled in the periods of compara- 
tive silence, and people came and went without her notice. 
Tears began to stream down the weather-beaten face and, 
after a while, she made once more the sign of the cross, 
staggered to her feet, lifted the heavy burden and re- 
adjusted it to her bent shoulders, then went quietly out 
into the dark, cold night. | 


2. It Appeals to Pride and Socsal Ambition. 


The hold of the Roman Church on its people, especially 
in some of the most advanced cities and countries, is 
largely social. The best families maintain their connec- 
tion with at least a part of its activities. Few men or 
women, however slight may be their affection for the 
Church or its priesthood, would dare content themselves 
with a purely civil marriage. They call upon one of the 
local clergy and, when finances permit, even obtain a 
special blessing from Rome, and have the ceremony per- 
formed by the highest local authority. Thousands of 
young men of careful Protestant upbringing, who have 
gone to Latin America and there found wives, have felt 
compelled to sacrifice their own religious convictions on 
the altar of social convention, and, in the wedding cere- 
mony, have sworn away their own faith, made confession 
to the officiating priest and promised that children result- 
ing from the marriage shall be brought up in the faith of 
the mother, under the careful tutelage of the Roman 
Church. At diplomatic functions, the Pope’s representa- 
tive expects and obtains the place of greatest honour, and 
in the “ Te Deum ” sung in the cathedrals on the occasion 
of the annual celebration of the country’s Independence, 
even an Ambassador of the United States of America has 
been known to kneel and humbly kiss his hand in token of 
submission to the Supreme Pontiff. 


62 Roman Christianity in Latin America — 


3. It Appeals to Fear. 


Except in some of the most backward communities, the 
day has passed when the threat of excommunication pro- 
duces more than a feeling of pity for those who launch it. 
However, much disciplinary power is exercised by the 
Roman Church in Latin America today through timely 
threats of dire punishment for possible infractions of its 
laws. The threatened dismissal of a workman, should he 
embrace Evangelical Christianity, or the withdrawal of all 
patronage from the corner grocer or druggist for the same 
offense, will often cause him to change his mind, espe- 
cially if he has a family dependent on his earnings for . 
their daily bread. ‘Threatened ostracism from social cir- 
cles is generally effectual in preventing any investigation 
of Evangelical truths through the reading of literature or 
through attendance of public services. The sending of 
children to a mission school, although this may be the only 
way to save them from complete illiteracy, will often call 
down on the parents the vengeance of the local priest and 
cause the children to be withdrawn from the school. 

Liberal governments, in large part the outgrowth of 
Evangelical effort in the various countries, no longer toler- 
ate open aggression; and we can but hope that even the 
spirit of would-be persecutors is being and will continue 
to be modified and softened with the passing of the years 
and the more modern and thorough preparation of the 
clergy. Many outstanding Catholics, both men and 
women, openly advocate tolerance and forbearance. Their 
example can not fail to exert a helpful influence on the 
more backward masses. The lack of retaliation on the 
part of Protestants and their forbearance even in the face 
of severe persecution, must also bear fruit in due season. 


4. It Appeals to Those Who Find the Right of Private 
Judgment Too Burdensome. 


A choice between the different Churches and theis* sys- 
tems of government is in no small degree a matter of tem- 


The Appeal of Rome 63 


perament and early training. The average Protestant, by 
nature and by education, demands the right of private in- 
terpretation and can not be content with less. The Roman 
Catholic is taught from earliest infancy that the Church is 
the source of all rightful interpretation, in matters of re- 
ligion, and he is content to accept its decisions as final. 
He is taught to follow the teaching of the various Cath- 
olic Councils, and the decision of the various popes, as 
carefully and unquestionably as the sailor follows the 
compass in his journeys across a troubled sea. It is not 
his to question. He is not to consider the why or the 
wherefore of the storms that he may encounter in his 
path ; the route has been marked out for him and his part 
is to follow it. 
One of their own writers has made this comparison: 


“Tn the United States, doubts or controversies about the 
law are brought finally to the Supreme Court. When its 
chief justice has handed down the decision of the Court, the 
case is settled. ‘There is no appeal from the Court, except an 
appeal to rebellion and arms, which would cut off the appel- 
lants from citizenship in the nation. « The highest court in 
the land is, within its proper sphere, as nearly infallible as 
its human framers could make it. Its decisions are accepted 
as the truth, 

“Though in altogether different orders, there is an anal- 
ogy between the Supreme Court of the United States and 
the Magisterium of the (Roman) Church, which is useful as 
an illustration. In the Church, questions and controversies 
about faith and morals are finally decided by its Supreme 
' Court. When its Chief Justice hands down his decision, the 
case is settled. There is no appeal except to private opinion - 
and rebellion against the teaching authority left by Christ. 
To make such an appeal is to cut one’s self off from citizen- 
ship in the Kingdom of Christ. This Court is as infallible 
as its divine founder willed. Its decision is the truth.” + 


That is to say, Romanism is static. No matter what 
advances the world may make, no new discovery is al- 
lowed to change the immutable decisions of long past 


1 Charles A. Martin, Catholic Religion, p. 99. 


64 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


church councils. Only a year ago a member of the Jesuit 
order who was upholding the value of one of the institu- 
tions of the Church declared that the Jesuit course of col- 
lege studies has remained unchanged for two hundred 
years. ( ) 
One can realise the tremendous attraction of this teach- 
ing of authority for those whose temperament does not 
inexorably demand the right of private investigation and 
judgment. In the lands that lie within the tropics, in par- 
ticular, where both physical and intellectual exertion are 
distasteful, where,—as some one has put it: “ the inhabit- 
' ants are clothed with sunshine and fed by gravitation,’— 
it comes particularly easy to throw the responsibility on 
some one else rather than go to the exertion of formulat- 
ing and adhering to one’s own opinion. In Latin America, 
the dogma of papal infallibility finds its most general ac- 
ceptance in the lands that lie nearest to the equator, where 
life is a dolce far niente and mental indolence the rule, 
with few strivings beyond those necessary to meet the 
absolute daily physical needs. In the lands that lie to the 
far South, where intellect is keen and private investigation 
encouraged, it has been very largely discarded as un-— 
worthy our modern life, and altogether inadequate as a 
solution of its problems. 


5. It Appeals to the Same Love of Architectural Gran- 
deur and Ceremonial Splendour as the Old Primitive 
Religions of the Continent. , 


The original races of the countries that now form Latin 
America offer no exception to the rule that there is in 
human nature an intuition of an unseen power, higher: 
than man, which is common to the species. From Pata- 
gonia to the Rio Grande, there are scattered reminders of 
the primitive religions of the continent, some of them, es- 
pecially in Peru or Yucatan, rivalling in grandeur the 
ruined temples of Egypt, Greece or Assyria. ‘Their .con- 
ception of the Great Spirit, the Creator of the Universe, 


The Appeal of Rome 65 


seems to have been much purer and more elevated than 
the ideas that prevailed among the ancient nations of Asia. 
Their services of religion were conducted with a magnifi- 
cent and minute ceremonial that challenges comparison 
with the rites of the most ritualistic sects of modern 
Christendom. 

Moreover, many of these beliefs and practices bore a 
curious likeness to those of the Hebrews, on which Chris- 
tianity is based, so that adoption of the religion presented 
by the conquerors did not mean such a radical change of 
thought as one might imagine. The more advanced peo- 
ples, such as the Peruvians and the Mexicans, as well as 
numerous tribes in what is now Central America, had well 
defined ideas as to the future existence of the soul, and the 
physical resurrection of the body. The story of the Gar- 
den of Eden, of the deluge, and of the building of the 
Tower of Babel, are paralleled in Mexican legends with a 
startling reality. Like the Hebrews, they worshipped to- 
ward the East and burned incense toward the four corners 
of the earth. Confession of sin and atonement by sacri- 
fice; a species of serpent worship; the punishment of 
adultery by stoning to death; the belief that the rainbow 
was a promise that the deluge would not be repeated ; per- 
mission to the high priest, alone, to enter the holy of 
holies ; an Ark which was the abiding place of an invisible 
God ; belief in demoniacal possession, and original sin; the 
washing of feet; anointing, and the practice of baptism 
and circumcision are some of the remarkable resemblances 
to the Hebrew codes of laws and beliefs. 

Roman Christianity, on its introduction into these lands, 
following its usual custom, did not try to do away with all 
the pagan practices of the conquered peoples, but allowed 
many of them to remain in force and they have gradually 
become engrafted on those of the conquering faith. In 
the interior of the Continent, even today, after four centu- 
ries of occupation and teaching by the Roman Church, it 
would be difficult for an untrained observer to determine, 


66 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


in many cases, whether the processions and religious serv- 
ices are pagan or Christian. The dress, the movements, 
the images worshipped, the evident belief and interest of 
the worshippers might, so far as one can see, be accounted 
for by either one. Edward Reville has written: 


“Tt is no part of our task to tell the story of the conver- 
sion of the natives to Roman Catholic Christianity. It was 
comparatively easily affected; the fall of the Incas was a 
mortal blow to the religious, no less than the political edifice 
in which they were the keystone of the arch. It was evident 
that the Sun had been unable or unwilling to protect his 
children. The conqueror imposed his religion on Peru, as 
on Mexico, by open force; and the Spanish Inquisition, 
though not giving rise to such numerous and terrible spec- 
tacles in the former as in the latter country, yet carried out 
its work of terror and oppression there, too. The result was 
the peculiar character of the Catholicism of the natives of 
Peru which strikes every traveller, and consists in a kind of 
timid and superstitious submission, without confidence and 
without zeal, associated with the obstinate preservation of 
customs which extend back to the former religious régime, 
and memories of the golden age of the Inca rule under which 
their ancestors were obliged to live, but which has gone to 
return no more.” ? 


A striking instance of the adaptation by Rone of the 
tenets of her faith to the practices and customs of the peo- 
ple among whom she labours in Latin America, is the 
worship of the Black Christ of Esquipulas, in Gautemala. 
According to the tradition, the inhabitants of the town 
were poor Indians, who, illuminated by the light of the 
gospel, embraced the Christian religion with love and 
gladness, and desired to possess an image of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Hence they united in the sowing of a cotton. 
plantation as a way to get the means to secure it. 

The black colour is accounted for by the belief of the 
Indians that an image of their own hue would show them 
more favour than would one of the colour of the Span- 
jards who were their conquerors. The priest in charge 


1 Reville, The Native Religions of Mexico and Peru, pp. 199-200. 


The Appeal of Rome 67 


claims that the wood carver knew better how to interpret 
the real condition of our Lord’s body after death than 
other sculptors and carvers have known, inasmuch as 
Scripture states that His image was marred more than 
that of any man, and His form more than the sons of 
men, especially after His terrible suffering on the cross. 
The real explanation, no doubt, is the wish of the Church 
to accommodate its teaching to the crude and superstitious 
ideas of the population. 

The primary appeal has been to the innate religious 
sense of the primitive inhabitant, but the European immi- 
grant, already familiar with the tenets and practices of his 
church, has had but little or no difficulty in accepting what 
he has found and adapting himself to the changed expres- 
sion of his faith. In the cities and large towns, of course, 
where the population is largely of Latin descent, the form 
of service used is that to which they have been accus- 
tomed, and the problem presented to the Church has been 
largely that of holding its members faithful to their reli- 
gious vows and practices. 


6. It Appeals with the Appeal to Be Found in the Great 
Body of Christian Truth to Which the Church at 
Large Clings. 

No one who is not of militant anti-papal convictions 
would dare claim that Roman Christianity, even in Latin 
America, does not hold to many of the fundamental truths 
of our common religion. No one who is not fanatically 
prejudiced would deny that these great truths were held 
and zealously maintained during the ages, when, other- 
wise, Christianity must have gone down before the on- 
slaught of paganism. The doctrines of the Trinity, of 
original sin, of the fatherhood of God, of the atonement 
through a vicarious sacrifice, of salvation through a Re- 
deemer, of the Holy Spirit and his sanctifying power and 
holiness, of the forgiveness of sin, of the universal King- 
dom of God, of the union of believers in a mystical body, 


68 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


of the holy sacraments, of the resurrection of the body 
and of the life everlasting,—all are to be found in the 
teaching of Latin Christianity. While we can but be 
appalled as we come to know it, by the mass of super- 
stition and gross evil which have overcrusted these fun- 
damentals, we must yet acknowledge their existence and 
the appeal which they make to men and women who are 
spiritually hungry. A well-known writer, who formerly 
stood high as a Franciscan monk, as lecturer on Sacred 
Scriptures, and as prefect in noted Roman Catholic col- 
leges, says: 


“JT myself have witnessed the passing away of. some 
Roman Catholics who gave me the best testimonies I ever 
saw that Christ was with them in the hour of their death. 
Moreover, I gladly admit that many of them retain theo- 
retically all the fundamental doctrines and sacraments of 
Christianity. They believe in the divinity, the incarnation 
and redemption of Christ. They believe in the remission of 
sins, in eternal reward for the just, in heaven, and in eternal 
punishment of the wicked, in hell. They have a Bible as 
reliable, except in the Apocrypha, as ours. They have 
churches, altars, sacrifices, worship, preachers, ministers, and 
regular services. They make of religion as-‘much and many. 
times more than we do; they pray perhaps more than we do; 
they spend more money perhaps in the service of their 
churches and the help of their ministers than we do. And, 
nevertheless, well aware of their true position and of the 
true significance of my words, I repeat once more and with 
deep conviction that I am saying the truth, they need the 
Gospel exceedingly.” + ; 


Then, one cannot fail to appraise highly the extensive 
and well-managed systems of hospitals, orphanages, 
schools, homes for the old and destitute, and other insti- 
tutions which this Church maintains, and recognise, too, 
the fair spirit of Christian charity that lies back of such 
work. Such facts constitute a strong appeal, not only to 
the faithful, but also, to the unprejudiced observer, and 


1Juan Orts Gonzales, in Do Roman Catholics Need the 
Gospel?” 


The Appeal of Rome 69 


do much to strengthen the hold of Rome on the imagina- 
tion and the affections. 


7. It Appeals on the Ground of Its Antiquity and Sup- 
posed Unity. 


The great strength of the Roman Catholic position is in 
the length of its history, and the apologist of Roman 
Christianity in Latin America never fails to appeal to the 
extreme antiquity of his Church, and, in particular, to the 
long period of service which it has rendered in these coun- 
tries of the Western Hemisphere. It is pointed out that 
Protestantism is comparatively modern, and that its in- 
fluence in Latin America is of very recent origin. The 
changes also are invariably rung on the innumerable di- 
visions of Protestantism, and these are held up as a proof 
that we are at war among ourselves and, moreover, have 
no common goal of endeavour. 

The antiquity must be admitted, and also the services 
rendered Latin America, before Evangelical Christendom 
awakened to the need of its help in the solution of the 
problems that vex these young nations. Those who un- 
derstand the inner workings of the Church, however, as- 
sure us that the divisions of Protestantism are no deeper 
than are those that exist between certain of the orders, 
which are not divulged to the general public because of 
the strict discipline to which all are subject. Ancient and 
ruined temples, and universities founded when the Virgin 
Queen was beginning her reign in England, denote age 
and a degree of faithful service in the past. But no insti- 
tution can live on its past nor will the methods of that past 
serve under the entirely changed conditions of modern 
Latin-American life. 


V 
THE APPROACH OF PROTESTANTISM 


In view of all the preceding, which shows the unques- 
tionable need of help from other quarters than the Roman 
Catholic Church, if Latin America as a whole is to receive 
the whole gospel, what is to be the attitude of Protestant- 
ism? Can it be expected that offers of help will be wel- 
comed by the hierarchy of the Roman Church? Will it 
be possible for the Evangelical forces to enter Latin 
America and do their part toward the solution of its press- 
ing problems without being attacked by the representa- 
tives of Roman Christianity on the field and by the press 
of that organisation at home? Experiences of the past 
afford no ground to suppose that either of these questions 
may ever be answered in the affirmative. 

Freedom of worship, liberty of the press, free speech, 
free and compulsory instruction, civil marriage, civil — 
cemeteries, and other rights common to all civilised coun-. 
tries, have been secured, in virtually every case, against 
the organised power of the Church. It would be useless to 
hope that further advances may be made, under Evangel- 
ical influences, without meeting the same spirit of fierce 
antagonism and open opposition. 

What, then, shall be our attitude? Shall the Evangel- 
ical Churches of the United States and Great Britain 
withdraw their forces and admit that Roman Christianity 
must be left alone to work out the problems of Latin 
America as it sees fit? Evidently, this can not be done. 
The world is one great unit today; no nation lives wholly 
to itself. There are almost no “ forbidden” spots, politi- 
cally. No such area can continue, religiously. By no 


70 


The Approach of Protestantism 71 


legitimate process of reasoning can Latin America be 
eliminated as a proper and clamant field of Evangelical 
mission work. Criticism and opposition are bound to 
come in the future, just as they have already come in the 
Philippines and in any other country where the Roman 
Church has felt the influence of Evangelical work; but as 
the preceding pages have shown, Latin America is truly a 
land of desperate need, outside of the circle of her wealthy 
and well-born population. Protestant Christianity has a 
work to do in Latin America. What should be the man- 
ner of its approach? 

In speaking on the general theme of cooperation be- 
tween the two Americas, the president of one of the most 
influential banks of North America recently made the 
following statement : 


“ Pan-Americanism should, of course, mean much more 
than the mere development of commercial opportunities, and 
the establishment of trade interests. It should mean the de- 
velopment of a broader and better understanding between 
the nations of the two Americas, The present is an oppor- 
tune time for extending old and establishing new friendly 
relations with the nations of both South and Central Amer- 
ica, and with the individuals who constitute those nations. 
The peaceful intentions of this nation and our worthy na- 
tional ambitions have been impressed upon our Southern 
neighbours as never before. They are seeing that the motive 
underlying our relations with them are not imperialistic. If 
the recognition of this attitude by the Southern republics is 
possible along political and commercial lines, I see no reason 
why there should not ‘be the same attitude and recognition 
in the development of our higher relations. 

“ Cooperation in its truest and best form is fundamentally 
important in producing the proper measure of success. In 
the South and Central American countries, we find a differ- 
ent people. In the light of previous experience, I do not feel 
that our efforts will be successful if we endeavour to force 
upon our Southern neighbours our ideas of education and of 
religion and creed; but I am sure that we can help recip- 
rocally in promoting the religious and educational conditions 
in those countries, and in bringing about a more thorough 
understanding of the aspirations of each. We have much to 


(2 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


learn, as well as to teach, and our efforts in any direction 
will not be properly productive if we do not learn this lesson. 
Through a proper recognition of this, we shall be able to 
gain the confidence of the South American nations, and pro- 
mote moral values and national and personal ideals.” 


It is in this spirit that we should enter Latin America 
with the program of the Evangelical churches. If the 
most lasting results are to be obtained, we must frankly 
face the actual moral and spiritual conditions, with no at- 
tempt to minimise their importance. While representing 
the gospel as the only adequate solution of these problems 
we must yet recognise all the elements of truth and good- 
ness which may be found in the established form of reli- 
gious faith. Our approach to the people must be neither 
critical nor antagonistic, but inspired by the teachings and 
the example of Christ and based on that charity which 
thinketh no evil and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth 
in the truth. The leadership needed in Latin America is 
of the type described by St. Augustine, wherein “one 
loving spirit sets another on fire.” 


1. The Evangelical Message Must Recognise the Good in. 
Roman Christianity. 


Missionaries to many lands have the privilege of giving 
the people a message that is in some respects entirely new. 
Its acceptance means breaking away from radically differ- 
ent systems and a gradual rejection of teachings that have 
little or nothing in common with Christianity. In Latin 
America, the problem of the Protestant missionary is ut- 
terly different. His hearers have already received what 
they consider the only correct interpretation of the gospel. 
Evangelical truths are looked upon by many of them as 
heresies, as radical departures from the teaching of the 
Church through the centuries. The missionary will find 
that many truths have been well taught, and he will do 
well to recognise, so far as possible, the excellencies of the 
instruction given. When he notes the many splendid 


The Approach of Protestantism 73 


Christian men and women in these lands, who have known 
no other form of the faith, he will become less sure that 
the keys of Heaven have been delivered into the keeping 
of his own particular communion; he will find his own 
sympathies broadening, and he will the more easily and 
fully appreciate the Christian virtues of those about him. 
He will need to stand firmly for the great underlying 
principles of Evangelical Christianity. Differences of 
Opinion inevitably arise and heated discussion must be ex- 
pected. But he who tries to recognise the good points in 
the other forms of religion will see more tangible results 
in the end, and, at the same time, keep his own spirit 
sweeter and purer, than he who enters into his work in a 
spirit of conflict, with his eyes deliberately blinded to the 
excellencies of the older religious organisations and wide 
open to their smallest faults. 

The evangelical missionary to the peoples of Latin 
America, even before he leaves the home land for his field, 
will do well if he temper his own spirit to the recognition 
of certain qualities in the Catholic organisation, which are 
sometimes lacking among Protestants. He will find, for 
example, an esprst de corps among these brethren which, 
in recoil from centralised authority, Protestants too often 
lack; a reverence for the ministering priest that borders 
on worship and makes his influence among his members 
paramount; a reverence for the church building as the 
House of God, which is too evidently lacking among some 
of the Protestant organisations; and a staunch and un- 
questioning loyalty to the essential and basic truths of 
Christianity as they understand them. 

And the missionary will do especially well to study the 
lives and methods of some of the truly great Roman Cath- 
olic missionaries of the past centuries. This is not the 
place to give a complete list of these men, nor to describe 
their work in full. But no one should fail to familiarise 
himself with the life and work of Raymund Lull, of the 
Thirteenth Century, the greatest missionary to the Mos- 


74 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


lems, a man of unusual spiritual insight and judgment, 
entirely ruled by love and by a spirit of real catholicity in 
‘a period when almost all others bowed in absolute submis- 
sion to the intolerant authority of the Church as repre- 
sented in the Holy Office of the Inquisition. In the same 
century lived St. Francis of Assisi, the first to establish 
Christian missions in Palestine and in the 'Turco-Arabic 
Empire. Francis Xavier, of the Sixteenth Century, was 
the first Christian missionary to Portuguese India, Japan 
and China. Pedro Claver and Bartolomé de las Casas, 
were both Spanish missionaries in Latin America. The 
first was the ardent defender of the negroes who had been 
brought over as slaves and dumped by hundreds of thou- 
sands on the coasts of South America. The second was 
almost the sole defender of the Indians against the cruelty 
and oppression of their Spanish masters. Toribio de 
Benavente, in the Sixteenth Century, travelled on foot 
throughout Mexico and Central America, preaching to the 
Indians. Father Damien was the great apostle in modern 
times to the lepers on Molokai who, “ making the great 
renunciation, shut to with his own hand the door of his 
sepulchre.” 

The student of these lives will find dirtdal to benefit him 
in his own work, and in consequence his attitude toward 
the Church which they represented will be mellowed. 


2. It Must Seek to Christianise, Not to Protestantise. 


The message which the Evangelical missionary must 
take to Latin America will be Christian, and thoroughly 
evangelical, but he need lay little emphasis on its contro- 
versial features. Inasmuch as ninety-eight per cent. of 
the population of most of the countries, not counting the 
pagan Indians, are counted as Roman Catholics, he can 
hardly escape presenting his message to some members in. 
good standing of that faith. But he will find that many 
who count themselves faithful Catholics have not found 
that spiritual satisfaction which their souls craved, and 


The Approach of Protestantism 75 


they will be glad to hear him. A large part of the popula- 
tion, although Catholics in name because of early bap- 
tism, may rather be classed as positivists, agnostics, or 
unbelievers, and with them Evangelical Christianity may 
succeed where Catholicism has failed. 

Latin America is anhungered and athirst with a thirst 
and hunger that the simple unadorned message of the liv- 
ing Christ can satisfy, if given in the same spirit of love 
and truth that characterised the Master. In the schools, 
in particular, in order to meet this condition, the message 
must be thoroughly Christian, and no opportunity lost to 
impress it upon young hearts and plastic minds. But it 
would be unfair, even un-Christian, for the teacher to take 
advantage of his position to exalt his own personal beliefs 
and belittle those of the parents of his pupils. If Christ 
enters the heart of the child, in the fullness of His power, 
there need be no fear of the result in the life of the future 
man or woman. And what does it matter that this work 
be done under this or that ecclesiastical banner, provided 
only that it be done? 


3. It Must Be Irenic, Rather Than Polemic. 


No doubt there was a time when polemics were neces- 
sary to the introduction of Evangelical Christianity in 
Latin America. It may be true that there is still need for 
such work in the press and from the pulpit, in some of the 
more backward countries and that this necessity may con- 
tinue for many years to come. Yet, on the whole, the 
evangel presented in a loving spirit that recognizes the 
frailty of the messenger as well as that of those who hear, 
will, in the end, produce more lasting results. Great 
crowds may be gathered by an eloquent speaker who 
makes an attack on Roman Catholicism, or a daily paper 
that is on the verge of bankruptcy may have new life in- 
jected into it and thus prolong its existence by launching, 
through its columns, repeated tirades against the clergy. 
Yet these destructive methods produce ephemeral results, 


46 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


while the constructive message edifies the believer, and in 
the end gains lifelong adherents for the cause presented. 
‘ The missionary is to enter Latin America, not as the foe 
of Roman Catholicism, but as one who goes to the help of 
such people therein as have never known the power of 
vital Christianity and who never expect to experience it 
through the ministrations of the Church of their fathers. » 
The task is not one of polemics, which would reach but a 
fraction of a people that is largely illiterate; nor is it one 
of differential theology. The missionary goes to meet a 
situation similar to that in the Philippines, which was de- 
scribed by a Roman Catholic priest.in these words: “an 
appalling spirit of religious indifference is settling upon 
the rising generation, which is growing up without reli- 
gion and without God. . . . Unless mighty efforts are 
now made to save the country, it will degenerate into a 
godless and atheistic land.” | 


4. The Message Must Be Free from Politics. 


One of the great objections made to the clergy of the 
Roman Catholic Church is its persistent meddling with 
politics. This is a trait of that organisation which is not 
altogether limited to Latin America, but in these lands it 
has earned for the priests of Rome the loss of confidence 
and the vigourous opposition of many of the most influ- 
ential laymen. The Evangelical missionary, as a for- 
eigner, can have no active part in the political life of the 
country to which he is sent, and will beware of any at- 
tempt to influence the people to whom he ministers in 
favour of or against any local political organisation. 

This must be particularly true of missionaries who are 
citizens of the United States of America. Latin Ameri- 
cans are extremely patriotic and resent any interference 
by foreigners in their political life. Add to this fact the 
strong undercurrent of hostility to the United States be- 
cause of real or fancied wrongs in the past, and it will be 
seen why not a few Latin Americans profess to believe 


The Approach of Protestantism ag 


that the missionary movement is, in some way, befriended 
from Washington and has as its final end the political 
hegemony of these lands. 

Unfortunately, it must be confessed that the policies 
dictated and enforced by the State Department at Wash- 
ington, in the past, have not always been wise or just in 
their relation to these young and very susceptible repub- 
lics. The brandishing of the “ big stick” has sometimes 
produced immediate results, but it has left scars that still 
fester and burn. Chile, Colombia, Panama, Central 
America and Mexico have all felt the heavy hand of our 
government at some time in their history, and they and 
their neighbours have long and retentive memories. 
Moreover, professional agitators do not fail to remind 
them of the past and warn them as to the future, and the 
echoes of “J took Panama” will long reverberate among 
the mountains and across the plains of our twenty sister 
republics to the south. The Evangelical missionary is to 
be the ambassador of a power mightier than any earthly 
government and he cannot afford to jeopardise his work 
by association with any party in local politics, nor by the 
slightest expression or deed that might suggest any con- 
nection with a foreign power. By his work he may come 
to be a minister of reconciliation between warring fac- 
tions, or for the establishment of better international rela- 
tions. But he will do this through absolute loyalty to Him 
_ whose gospel he preaches and the assiduous presentation 

of that same gospel as the panacea for all ills, international 
as well as local. He may thus keep out of politics and yet 
take advantage of his abundant opportunity to make it 
known that Evangelical religion, far from having a quarrel 
with democracy, is its most ardent supporter and fountain. 


5. It Must Emphasise the Socal Gospel. 

The mystical sentimental aspect of Christianity has been 
emphasised by the Roman Catholic clergy in Latin Amer- 
ica. The social gospel with its attempt to bring Heaven 


78 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


down to earth, to better the conditions among which we 
live, to lift up the poor, to educate the illiterate, will make 
an appeal that cannot fail to attract even the most bitter 
enemies of the preaching of the past. Dispensaries under 
Evangelical auspices for the very poor have often awak- 
ened interest on the part of busy physicians and enlisted 
their sympathetic help. Free schools have the moral and 
sometimes the financial support of Governments and indi- 
viduals, and the Evarigelical Church, in so far as it has 
linked itself with such movements, has met with the en- 
thusiastic and helpful response of the community. 


6. The Messenger’s Life Can Be Made to Count for More 
Than His Message. 


Latin America needs the stimulus of Christian living as 
much as that of preaching, and possibly more. Impurity 
and the double standard for the sexes is looked upon as 
both necessary and right. The Christian home, where 
pure love holds sway, is a mighty agency for good, and its 
influence extends far beyond the circle that may be 
reached by the preached word. The young men and 
women who teach in the mission schools are studied as 
carefully as the lessons they assign and the Evangelical 
missionary is in real truth a living epistle, known and read 
of all men. 


7. The Messenger Must Be of High Culture. 


Probably no other mission field demands men and 
women of higher culture than those who should be sent 
to Latin America. In one of the Reports of the Panama 
Congress we find these words: 


“While emphasising our belief that the work of a mission- 
ary demands special devotion, special gifts and special tem- 
perament, it is our abiding conviction that because Latin 
peoples possess an historic background and atmosphere, 
gentle and refined manners, and are uniquely susceptible to 
culture and the graces culture brings, the work in Latin 


The Approach of Protestantism 79 


America demands as missionaries men of broad vision, wide 
culture, and diplomatic temperament. The Latin is quick to 
discern the real lack in his rougher-mannered brother from 
the aggressive North or elsewhere, and quicker to resent the 
implied suggestion that anything or anybody is good enough 
for them. On the other hand, none is quicker than he to 
appreciate the effort of sympathetic students of Latin 
American customs and manners. A Pauline gift of sym- 
pathy as well as a Pauline temper of adaptability seems 
almost a prerequisite to success in Latin America.” + 


The very best that Evangelical Christianity can give Latin 
America is not too good for its cultured and appreciative 
peoples. 


8. It Must Include the Whole Population. 


No program of missions for Latin America will be — 
complete that does not include special work and specially 
prepared workers for the unevangelised native population. 
The working classes and those higher in the social cate- 
gory have received the gospel, although in an imperfect 
and distorted form; but many millions of pagan Indians 
still look in vain for the only message that can bring light 
to their darkened souls. Their cry comes up from the 
great tropical forests and from the barren huts scattered 
over the high, cold plains,—“ How long, oh Lord, how 
long? ”—and only Evangelical Christianity can answer it. 


1 Vol, I, p. 327. 


VI 
THE OPPORTUNITY PSYCHOLOGICAL | 


EVANGELICAL missions have been working in Latin 
America for a half century—in some of the countries for 
a longer time, and in others for less—but these years have 
been, in a sense, only preparatory to the initiation of their 
real program. Much work had to be done to prepare the 
ground before seed-sowing could be begun on a large 
scale, and with assurance of a bountiful harvest. In most 
countries, it was necessary to secure the enactment of laws 
which would permit the exercise, even in private, of any 
religion other than that of the official Church, and of 
others which would give to individuals not members of 
that Church, including Protestants, equal civil rights. 
Such laws have now been enacted in practically all coun- 
tries, against the fiercest opposition of the clergy, and, 
with equal rights, in the fullest sense of the word, Evan- 
gelical Christianity may now begin its greatest chapter of 
service in behalf of Latin America. For this, conditions 
are highly favourable. 


1. Politically Considered. 


(a) Because of the Attitude of the United States in the 
World War.—When the United States finally decided to 
enter the World War in defense of the rights of democ- 
racy, a great step was taken toward gaining the warmest 
admiration of her neighbours to the South. The proposed 
League of Nations received the enthusiastic support of the 
various Congresses, and is still their hope for the future. 

This political reaction in favour of the United States 
has had a liberalising influence all through Latin America; 


80 


The Opportunity Psychological 81 


and mission work done by North Americans, particularly 
that related to education, is more favourably considered 
than at any time in the past. Leading writers, through 
the press, have not failed to ascribe much of the greatness 
of the Northern republic to its liberal laws in regard to 
religion, and to the powerful Protestant influence among 
its people. As never before, Latin Americans are willing 
and anxious to learn more of this heretofore neglected, if 
not altogether despised, form of religion. 

(b) Our Political Supremacy Begets Moral and Spir- 
stual Responsibility—There can be no question that the 
United States holds supreme political power in the West- 
ern Hemisphere. This is a very real fact, although some 
of the nations of Europe, as well as some of those of 
Latin America, may hesitate about acknowledging it. The 
political fate of these nations, due largely to the benevo- 
lent action of the Monroe Doctrine, depends in large 
measure on the will of the President and Congress of the 
United States of America. New York is the financial 
Mecca of Latin America, if not of the whole world, and 
from it must come those loans without which no one of 
these countries seems able to keep up industrial and com- 
mercial expansion. ‘This political supremacy has, in a 
sense, been unsought, but once attained entails a tremen- 
dous responsibility. Having made their own influence 
supreme by preventing other nations from acquiring terri- 
torial rights within this great region, will the people of 
‘the United States stop there or will they endeavour to 
exercise their great influence for the good of the peoples 
of Latin America? Having assured political indepen- 
dence to these peoples, will they not go a step further and 
assist them in securing religious freedom? 


2. Morally Considered. 

(a) Confidence in Evangelicals Shown by the Govern- 
ing Class——One of the most encouraging features in the 
work of modern Evangelical missions in Latin America 


82 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


is the confidence shown the missionaries by liberal states- 
men and others high in authority. Many cases could be 
cited in which officials have consulted missionaries in 
regard to matters of importance, were it not that such 
consultations have often been of a private nature. A few 
may, however, be given. 

In Peru even, an al conservative country, 
there have been evidences of this confidence. When the 
Government proposed to build a road in one of the out- 
of-the-way mountain districts, it is said that the President ~ 
signed the bill granting the funds, only on condition that 
the Protestant missionary in that region act as treasurer, 
and handle the money. In the same country an educa- 
tional missionary was consulted by the chairman of a 
Congressional committee named for the purpose of re- 
moulding the entire educational system, in regard to the 
best method of reaching the Indian population. When ~ 
industrial schools were suggested he said: | 


“Tf you will get some Evangelical Society to come to Peru 
and establish such schools, I promise that it will receive both 
the moral and financial support of the Government.” 


Then he added: 


“We do not want these schools to fall into the hands of 
the official Church.” 


In Paraguay, the President of the republic said to this 
same educator: 


“We need industrial schools in this country. If those 
whom you represent will come in, I will see that they get all 
the land they need, and we will encourage them in any way 
possible.” 


And the President of Ecuador said to the same mis- 
sionary, at the close of a long conversation, in which cer- 
tain plans for the Evangelical work in his country had 
been explained: 


The Opportunity Psychological 83 


“Count on me, both privately and officially, for any 
service that I can render you, or those whom you represent, 
in carrying out any program that looks to the ennobling and 
education of the people of my country.” 


It is well understood that employers, in many cases, 
give the preference to Protestant employees. 

(b) The Mission School Crowded to Its Utmost Ca- 
pacitty—No other form of Evangelical activity affords 
such an unusual opportunity of influencing Latin America 
as the mission school. No matter what the grade of these 
schools, from kindergarten to university courses, they are 
almost always crowded, and, in many cases, there is a 
waiting list. Both parents and Government officials 
recognise the superior grade of instruction, and, in par- 
ticular, the careful attention given to the moral education 
of the pupil. 

In most cases, the mission school, in order to meet its 
expenses, is obliged to charge a considerable fee. In 
spite of this fact, so great is the confidence of parents in 
the superiority of the education received, that, in the large 
cities as well, where there are splendid State schools which 
give free instruction, the mission school, even when dupli- 
cating the Government curriculum, is generally obliged to 
turn away applicants. 

No greater opportunity could be asked by Evangelical 
Christianity than the present one in which many thou- 
sands of children are receiving their education from 
Christian teachers and their training for future service. 
This opportunity is limited only by the lack of proper 
equipment and by the inadequate number of Christian 
teachers who are offering themselves for this work. 

(c) The Changed Lives of Converts——Wherever the 
Evangelical Church has secured a hearing there have been 
conversions of men and women who have evidenced in 
their changed lives the power of the gospel to reform 
character. Many who had lived together with no sanction 
by church or state have married and set up Christian 


84 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


homes. Drunkards have been reclaimed and made valu- 
able members of the community. Bandits have come to 
the services with the intention of killing the preacher, and 
have remained to sit at his feet and learn of Jesus. The 
thorough permeation of the community by evangelical 
Christianity must of necessity be slow; but effects already 
are so evident in the uplift of those who have heard and 
accepted its message, that there is no longer an element of 
reproach in the term “ E,vangélico.” 

Faithful Evangelical Christians do not patronise the lot- 
tery or the bull-fights ; they do not become drunkards, but 
favour temperance and total abstinence; their influence 
and example are in favour of the home which has been 
duly constituted according to the laws of the country; 
they are not found among the Sabbath breakers; their 
children are in school, where they learn how to become 
useful members of society ; they are not brawlers, and are 
seldom found in the police court. These are character- 
istics that are as yet but little appreciated by many of their 
neighbours; yet they work mightily to the benefit of the 
community of which they form a part, and they count 
heavily in developing a sentiment favourable to the work 
of Evangelical Christianity 


VII 
RESULTS THAT MAY BE EXPECTED 


Very often the mission Board, as well as the mission- 
ary on the field, is over eager for immediate and tangible 
results. Gifts must be secured in generous measure from 
the home base, and, too often, the giver wishes concrete 
proof in the statistics from the field that his generosity 
has been justified. To the mind of the writer, there are 
results of a different kind that may also be expected which 
are of equal or greater value to Christianity in the large 
and which will be sought for by the earnest missionary. 
Some of these may be mentioned, as follows: 


1. The Building Up of An Evangelical Community. 

The prospective growth of Evangelical bodies in the 
future may be judged from the results of such work in 
the past. In eyery country of Latin America there al- 
ready exists such a community of believers which has 
grown out of the work of the missionaries. In some 
countries. where the force has been small and handicapped 
by local conditions, there is scarcely yet more than a nu- 
cleus from which the larger body must grow. In others, 
the Evangelicals already form an appreciable portion of 
the population with an influence that is far out of propor- 
tion to their numbers. Brazil reports some 450,000 Evan- 
gelical Christians and adherents. Some of the leading 
men of the nation are active members, and many others 
of influence lend their sympathetic endorsement to the 
work that is being done by the Evangelical Churches. In 
Montevideo, Uruguay, the congregation that worships in 
the Central Methodist Episcopal Church is as representa- 


85 


86 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


tive of the best people of the country as the average con- 
gregation would be in any of our own cities. This is 
equally true of the great Presbyterian church in Rio de 
Janeiro. 

In Mexico there is a large Evangelical body and many 
of the principal offices of the Government have been held 
by Evangelicals. In Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, some 
of the countries of Central America, the West Indies, Co- 
lombia, and Venezuela, there are strong congregations 
that exercise no inconsiderable influence on the life of 
these nations. Even in the republic of Ecuador, into 
which no one of the great Boards has yet entered, there 
are groups of believers, due, in most cases, to the work of 
independent missionaries attached to those smaller Ameri- 
can Church bodies whose means as well as workers are 
limited. 

The attitude of the people toward Evangelical workers 
has greatly changed. One of the missionaries in Gaute- 
mala has recently written : | 


In 1882 as a measure of safety against fanaticism the 
President had an armed guard walk on either side of the 
only missionary, and that in the streets of the national. 
capital; today, it is difficult to provoke even a remote vil- 
lager to throw a brick at one for religious reasons. In those 
early days a tract was likely to be crumpled and thrown back 
at the distributor; now, in street or train, hands are stretched 
out and all Protestant literature eagerly received. Liberals 
welcomed us then, but frankly told us they were not fools 
enough to believe our religion; now many of those same men 
are being baptised, and most of them are sending their 
daughters to our girls’ school to get our religion. 

“Then a congregation was almost an impossibility to se- 
cure; today there are more than five hundred and as many 
more potential ones, and one may travel on foot in any direc- 
tion across the inhabited part of the land and stop marning, 
noon and night with a Protestant congregation. Then we 
were everywhere considered as a destructive element, anti- 
Roman if not anti-theistical; they have awakened to the fact 
that Protestantism is splendidly constructive on the side of 
all that is best. We were outcasts, and only outcasts who 


Results That May Be Expected 87 


had nothing to lose would come with us; now the intellect- 
uals are being baptised, the best people have us conduct their 
funerals and weddings, and in advertisements for help ap- 
pears at times the very significant note, ‘A Protestant 
preferred.’”} 


With this change of attitude has come a great advance 
in the number of Protestant believers. In the small island 
of Porto Rico, in which Evangelical work was begun after 
the war with Spain, the different organisations have ad- 
vanced to a surprising degree. Their published statistics 
show that there are, in the island, two hundred forty-eight 
ministers and other workers; four hundred ninety-seven 
places in which preaching is done; one hundred ninety- 
one organised churches; 11,747 members in full commun- 
ion; two hundred ninety-seven Bible schools; 21,194 
pupils in these schools; one hundred one societies for 
young people, with 3,733 members; seventy-one church 
buildings, and church property to the total value of 
$1,670,450. All this has been accomplished in about 
twenty years. 

With such promising beginnings, we can but expect that 
in coming years this and other church bodies will greatly 
increase in number and membership, with a corresponding 
increase in the impact which they will make on the life of 
the people. 


2. A Changed Social Conscience. 


With the extension of evangelical truth throughout 
Latin America, we may rightly anticipate a new social 
order, growing out of a deeper sense of responsibility for 
the ills that now abound and their deadening effect on 
spiritual life and effort. There is already an awakening 
to the peril that lurks in the lottery, the legalised gaming 
table, the races and the bull-fight, although these are en- 
dorsed at present by the state and a goodly proportion of 


1Edward M. Haymaker, in The Presbyterian Magazine, 
May, 1922, 


88 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


their proceeds go to the help of institutions of charity. 
Urged to action by the success of the prohibitory move- 
ment in the United States, a number of countries look for- 
ward to the suppression of the drink traffic within a short 
time, and have already curtailed its evil effects on their 
people by the enactment of certain restrictive laws and 
regulations. 

Women, especially those of the working class, will also 
be given their rights and the terrible scourge of illegiti- 
macy and child abandonment will be reduced. The work- 
ing man, especially on the great estates of the interior, 
where he is but little more than a driven beast of burden, 
will come to be recognised as a fellow human being, with 
rights equal to those of his employer, and the official 
Church, itself, which has either abetted many of the 
present social evils or silently acquiesced in them, raising 
no voice of protest, will awaken to a realisation of its 
dignity and power and lend its help to their eradication. 
This changed social conscience will be the result of the 
penetration of the masses by the truths of the gospel, in- 
telligently and perseveringly carried on by the forces of 
Evangelical Christianity. 


3. A Deeper Mutual Appreciation by Romanists and 
Evangelicals. 


In unitedly carrying out these reforms, there will of 
necessity come a better understanding between the repre- 
sentatives of these two great bodies of Christians, Evan- 
gelicals will come to know and appreciate the many 
splendid men and women of the Roman Catholic Church 
who have felt they had to silently endure conditions which 
they could not change, and this awakened respect will 
extend also to the Roman Catholics, who, as many are 
already doing, will realise that Protestantism is not of the 
Evil One, but a religion whose fundamentals are the same 
as those on which their own faith professes to rest. The 
writer has had many opportunities to speak to cultured 


Results That May Be Expected 89 


Roman Catholics, among them members of the clergy, 
who have assured him that they considered him a brother 
in Christ. “ We may differ in details,” they have said, 
“but we are one on the essentials.” 

One of the missionaries in Colombia states that in a 
conversation with a local priest in which they were dis- 
cussing the ignorance, superstition, and awful conditions 
of immorality which surrounded them, the priest ex- 
claimed: “ Yes! there are terrible things happening in the 
Roman Church! Terrible things! You do not know how 
terrible! My great desire is that your work may prosper, 
—that it may prosper in all Colombia! ” 

Roman Christianity has lacked in its work in Latin 
America that spur of friendly emulation which has been 
supplied to it by Protestantism in the United States. As 
a speaker at the Congress of Panama, Judge Emilio del 
Toro, put it: “In my judgment, the beneficent influence 
which Roman Catholicism has exercised in the develop- 
ment of its civilisation in Latin America would have been 
greater had it been obliged to contend face to face from 
the earliest times with a vigourous Protestant movement.” 

We may note that even now a kindlier feeling on the 
part of both grows as they go forward to the task of 
Christianising these lands, and this spirit of toleration and 
mutual helpfulness must continue to increase as the 
knowledge each has of the other becomes deeper. 

Only those who labour under a naive misconception of 
facts can imagine that only their own religion is altogether 
good and that all others are wholly bad as to belief and 
practice; and it would seem to be obvious that the true 
missionary will endeavour to utilize for good as fully as 
possible every point of contact of his own faith with 
that of the people to which he goes. Especially should 
this be true with regard to work done by Evangelicals 
in Roman Catholic lands where the points of contact 
are so many and so vital, both positively and by way 
of contrast. 


90 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


4. An Awakening on the Part of the Indifferent and 
Hostile. 


The cessation of ‘this foolish warring between rival 
Christian Churches, worthy only of the Middle Ages and 
utterly at variance with twentieth century ideas of toler- 
ance and goodwill, cannot fail to awaken interest in the 
message of Christianity among the indifferent and hostile. 
As already shown, this description applies to the large 
majority of the thinking men of Latin America, and it is 
unfortunate that the Church has lost their loyalty and 
support in the past. When Roman Catholic and Protest- 
ant, alike, unite in giving to the people “the divine teach- 
ings of the Sermon on the Mount, conveyed in the same 
spirit of love and truth in which they fell from the lips 
of the Master,” there will be a great awakening among 
the army who now look upon sacerdotalism with scorn 
and enmity, and who, in their ignorance, reject the entire 
Christian message as puerile and unworthy of their notice. 


5. Increased Confidence and Support at the Home Base. 


It is but just to expect that as the needs of Latin Amer- 
ica become better known, there will be a greatly increased 
interest in the homeland in the work that is being done by 
the Evangelical churches in that section of the mission 
field. This interest will express itself both in greater 
financial support and in the offer of young, enthusiastic, 
well-prepared men and women to carry forward the pro- 
gram. ‘I‘he nations are turning to these lands with an in- 
creasing commercial interest, and are vying with each 
other in the rush to make paying investments. It has been 
estimated that Great Britain, alone, receives in income 
from her investments, each month, more than the total 
amount invested in Evangelical missions to these lands in 
the last hundred years. No careful estimate of the 
amount accruing to American investors is available, but it 
cannot be much less. ‘The consciences of these nations 
must be awakened to the need of giving something pro- 


Results That May Be Expected 91 


nortionate to Latin America, instead of taking all possible 
out of it. 

This paragraph would not be altogether complete nor 
fair, were due acknowledgment not made at this point of 
the generous help already given Evangelical work by 
many of the foreign and national firms of Latin America, 
as well as by individuals. A very great deal of the great 
progress already made would have been utterly impos- 
sible without these generous and continuous contributions. 
Many of the old established and prosperous British firms, 
as well as individuals of that nationality, have been par- 
ticularly helpful; but many from our own land and from 
European countries have also carried the Evangelical 
work very near to their hearts and have aided it as their 
own fortunes have been prospered. When the need of 
these peoples for sympathetic help once takes hold of the 
conscience of our own people, the outpouring of conse- 
crated wealth will be greatly increased and Evangelical 
work will go forward much more vigourously than has 
been possible up to the present time. 

And, furthermore, the conscience of the youth of our 
land will be challenged to consecrate life and talents to 
the giving of their fellow Americans of Spanish, Portu- 
guese, and French tongues the inestimable riches which 
they themselves have received in such abundance. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


AN IMMENSE number of books on Latin America, 
many of them modern and of extremely great value along 
special lines, might be cited in this bibliography as worthy 
the further study of the reader of this little volume. The 
following have been chosen because they treat some phase 
_ of intellectual, social or religious life in the twenty repub- 
lics under study, or of some one or group of them, and 
the list has been deliberately shortened in order to include 
only those of special value on these lines. 

Readers who may wish to secure the latest books on 
Latin America may do so by writing The Committee on — 
Cooperation in Latin America, 25 Madison Avenue, New 
York City, or the various ae houses mentioned in 
the following list. 

A number of works that deal more specifically with the 
teachings of the Roman Catholic Church are named at the 
end of the list. Here, again, a larger number might be 
mentioned, but those given will suffice to create interest. 


GENERAL WORKS 


BLAKESLEE, GrorcE H., Mexico and the Caribbean, Clark 
University Addresses, 1920. This book is made up of a — 
number of addresses delivered in a conference held in 
Clark University in 1919. The addresses cover a number — 
of subjects and are not distinctly religious in their presen-— 
tation, yet contain a great deal of information which will 
be of help to anyone who is interested in the social and 
intellectual conditions that prevail in Mexico and the 
countries of the Caribbean. 


Brown, Husert W., Latin America, New York, Revell, 190t. 
The chapters in this volume were given as lectures to the 


92 


Bibliography 93 


students of the Princeton Theological Seminary. The ma- 
terial is now somewhat out of date, but is still valuable. 

Browninc, W. E., Ecuador, Social, Intellectual and Reli- 
gious Conditions, New York, Committee on Cooperation 
in Latin America, 1921. This small volume was written 
as the result of a visit to this little known and very back- 
ward country of South America and states frankly the im- 
pressions of its author in regard to the social, intellectual 
and religious conditions which he found to prevail. 

Bryce, JAMES, South America, Observations and Impres- 
sions, New York, Scribners, 1912. Few men have more 
carefully developed the gift of observation than the late 
Viscount Bryce, and his volume on South America will 
long remain a standard. It is peculiarly valuable because 
of his observations and impressions of the religious and 
social situation. 

CaLpERON, F. Garcia, Latin America, Its Rise and Progress, 
London, T. F. Unwin, 1913. A critical study of the politi- 
cal, social and philosophical life of Latin America, by one 
of its most distinguished sons. 

CriarK, Francis E., The Continent of Opportunity, New 
York, Revell, 1907. “ Father” Clark of the Christian En- 
deavour Movement made a lengthy trip through South 
America, and this volume contains the results of his study. 
It is now somewhat out of date, but is still useful because 
it expresses the opinions of a writer who holds a peculiar 
place in the affections of millions of young people. 

Cooper, Crayton S., Understanding South America, New 
York, Doran, 1916, A sympathetic discussion by a North 
American of present conditions and problems in South 
America, with an interpretation of the psychology of its 
peoples. 

Gruss, W. Barsroox, A Church in the Wilds, New York, 
Dutton, 1914, and An Unknown People in an Unknown 
Land, London, South American Missionary Society. The 
author of these two books is one of the best known mis- 
sionaries of the South American Missionary Society, 
which was founded to carry on the work established by 
Latin America’s best known martyr, Captain Alan Gard- 
iner. Mr. Grubb has suffered many things among the wild 
tribes of the interior, was once wounded and near to death, 
but has been influential in establishing and carrying on one 
of the most efficient missions to the Indians of South 
America of which we have any knowledge today. 


94 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


WORKS ON ROMAN CATHOLICISM BY 
CATHOLICS 


DEHARBE, JOSEPH, S. J. A Complete Catechism of the Cath- 
olic Religion, New York, Schwartz, Kirwin and Fauss. A 
translation from the German. The catechism is preceded 
by a short history of revealed religion, from the creation 
to the present time, with explanations that conform to the 
teaching of the Roman Church. 

GIBBONS, JAMES, CARDINAL, The Faith of Our Fathers, Balti- 
more and New York, John Murphy Company. This is one 
of the strongest presentations of the viewpoint of Roman 
Catholicism ever written. It is said to have been influ- 
ential in the conversion of many Protestants. The first 
edition was issued in 1876, and the present is the gIst. 

McCuincHEyY, Rev. Josep F., D.D., The Conversion of the 
Pagan World, Boston Society for the Propagation of the 
Faith, 1921. A translation from the Italian of Rev. Paolo 
Manna, by Dr. McClinchey. All phases of the missionary 
problem, from the standpoint of the Roman Catholic - 
Church, are considered in a sane and direct manner, and a 
great deal of information is given in comparatively 
short space. 

Martin, Rev. CHaritEs A., Catholic Religion, at Roman 
Catholic bookstores. A careful setting forth of Roman 
Catholic doctrines by one who is evidently well grounded 
in his faith. 

AutHor Unknown, A Catechism on Catholic Foreign Mis- 
sions, Boston, Society for the Propagation of the Faith. 
This ‘catechism contains elementary information on Roman . 
Catholic missions put in the simple form of question and 
answer. Its object is to awaken interest in the cause of 
Roman Catholic Foreign Missions. 

SuLLIVAN, Rev. Joun F., The Visible Church, Her Govern- 
ment, Ceremonies, Sacramentals, Festivals and Devotions, 
New York, P. J. Kennedy and Sons. This is a text-book 
in Catholic schools and gives a thorough explanation of 
the external practices of the Catholic Church. 


WORKS ON ROMAN CATHOLICISM BY 
NON-CATHOLICS 


Ince, WitL1aM R., Catholic Church and Anglo-Saxon Mind. 
Article in the Atlantic Monthly for April, 1923. An un- 
usually strong, well-tempered statement of the reasons 


Bibliography 95 


why Roman Catholicism does not make a strong appeal to 
Anglo-Saxons. Dean Inge writes with authority and skill 
and this article merits a wide reading. 


INMAN, SAMUEL Guy, Intervention in Mexico, New York, 
Doran, 1919. Problems in Pan Americanism, New York, 
Doran, 1921. South America Today, New York, Com- 
mittee on Cooperation in Latin America, 1922. Mr. In- 
man is an authority on all matters related to Latin Amer- 
ica. ‘The three volumes included in this bibliography 
should be read by all who are particularly interested in the 
problems before us today. 

Pui.ies, J. A., Romanism Analysed, New York, Revell. A 
dispassionate study of the doctrines and practices of Rome, 
based on Roman Catholic documents and testimonies. A 
translation into Spanish has also been published by Lamar 
and Barton, Nashville, Tenn. 


Reports OF THE PANAMA CONGRESS ON CHRISTIAN WoRrK, 
New York, Committee on Cooperation in Latin America, 
1916. The Congress on Christian Work in Latin America 
was held in Panama in February, 1916, and these reports 
were published the following year. They are the results 
of the most exhaustive study and give more authoritative 
information on social, intellectual and religious conditions 
in Latin America than any other work that has been writ- 
ten. They may well be used as the basis of any intensive 
study of the problems discussed in the present volume. 

Ross, Epwarp A., South of Panama, New York, The Cen- 
tury Company, 1915. In the introduction to his book Pro- 
fessor Ross states that in his study of social conditions in 
South America he felt that his obligation was to tell the 
truth. He has done so in a most readable manner. And, 
although critical of the peoples visited, he has shown a 
good spirit and his criticisms are constructive. Few men 
have spoken out so plainly on conditions that prevail in 
South America, and no one can speak with greater author- 
ity, since Professor Ross is a trained sociologist who has 
given many years to analysing and interpreting social 
conditions. 

SHEPHERD, W. R., Latin America, New York, Henry Holt & 
Co., 1914. The best hand-book for those who are begin- 
ning the study of the peoples and problems of Latin 
America. 

SPEER, Ropert E., South American Problems, New York, 
Student Volunteer Movement, I912. Speer visited South 


96 Roman Christianity in Latin America 


America in 1909 and this book is the result of his ob-~ 
servations. Other books have since been written, but this — 
volume is so full of exact information that one must con- 
tinually return to it when searching for material on South 
America. This and other publications of the author may 
be said to have presented these problems to North Ameri- 
can audiences in their real light and significance for the 
first time. . 

Tucker, Hucu C., The Bible in Brazil, New York, Revell, 
1902. The author of this book has spent many long and 
fruitful years in Brazil and is today one of the most useful. 

“and efficient missionaries in that country. In all matters 
connected with this subject he speaks with authority. 

Winton, Grorce B., Mexico Today, New York, Missionary 
Education Movement, 1913. An illuminating description 
of Mexico and the Mexican people, by one who knows 
and loves them. 


Orts-GonzaLes, JuAN, The Way to Fair Play between 
American Catholics and Patriots, Richmond, Va., Pres- 
byterian Committee of Publication. Dr. Orts-Gonzales is 
an ex-Roman priest who held high positions in that 
Church. Consequently, he speaks with an intimate knowl- 
edge of his subject and with unusual authority. 

Orts-GonzaLEs, JUAN, Do Roman Catholics Need the Gos- 
pel? Richmond, Va., Presbyterian Committee of Publica- 
tion, This is one of a series of seven lectures on this 
general theme. Each lecture is published separately in 
pamphlet form. . 





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